Definition

idly, i.e. without reason (or effect)

Etymology

probably from G1502 (εἴκω) (through the idea of failure);

Where the KJV renders it

• without a cause
• (in) vain(-ly)

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.