helpful
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of helpful
Explanation
If you are inclined to assist others in any situation, you are a helpful person. Your actions can also be called helpful, like your helpful habit of doing the dishes every night. If you want to be helpful, you find ways to make things easier for others, like holding the door for them. Things can also be helpful — maps, cell phones, dictionaries, and holders for wet umbrellas. Taking good notes and setting your alarm to go off early are helpful tips for days when you have big tests. A discussion is helpful if it teaches you something new or gives you ideas for doing something better.
Vocabulary lists containing helpful
Beowulf vocabulary
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Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 3
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Words to Describe a Teacher
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Helpful mutations still appeared, but they often did not have enough time to spread through the population before conditions shifted again.
From Science Daily • May 29, 2026
Helpful characters appear out of sheer coincidence, the tone shifts abruptly at times, and Ben keeps getting out of sticky situations because of luck rather than ingenuity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025
Helpful protests can solve, or at least alleviate, this tension by helping while also calling attention to political reform.
From Salon • Jul. 5, 2025
Helpful suggestions include: “punch your pillow”, “do flips on the trampoline”, or “go get a cookie”.
From NewsForKids.net • Mar. 22, 2022
I felt a science report coming on titled Electricity, Our Helpful Friend.
From "How I Live Now" by Meg Rosoff
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
