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| Subject | Russian | English |
| Makarov. | какая пустая трата сил! | what a waste of energy! |
| econ. | пустая трата сил | pushing on a string (пример: Dealing with this problem through supply‐side reforms aimed at increasing productivity is like pushing on a string. A.Rezvov) |
| obs. | пустая трата сил | a cold coal to blow at (Bobrovska) |
| gen. | это пустая трата сил | it is a waste of breath |