Nugatory

Dearest, darling word warriors! My most sincere apologies for the tardiness of this new word of the week. 

You see, I have been in the process of moving in with the person who gave me words—my mother. She has recently had a small stroke and briefly lost all of her words. 

She is now relearning to read and I have moved in to aid her in her recovery.

This move is anything but nugatory (new-guh-tor-ee), especially for her. She needed help and I was more than happy to oblige*.  Nugatory means insignificant, trivial, or unimportant. Since mom is delighted (most of the time) to have me there as assistance, that makes it not nugatory.  

*Bonus word: oblige (uh-blije)—doing as someone wishes or asks in order to help or please them.

His efforts to lose weight by eating
​only donuts were nugatory.