useful

[yoos-fuhl]

adjective

1. being of use or service; serving some purpose; advantageous, helpful, or of good effect.

   a useful member of society.

   Synonyms: beneficial, efficacious, profitable
   Antonyms: useless

2. of practical use, as for doing work; producing material results; supplying common needs.

   the useful arts; useful work.

   Synonyms: beneficial, efficacious, profitable
   Antonyms: useless

useful

/ ˈjuːsfʊl /

adjective

1. able to be used advantageously, beneficially, or for several purposes; helpful or serviceable

2. informal,  commendable or capable

   a useful term's work

noun

1. informal,  an odd-jobman or general factotum

Other Word Forms

• usefully adverb
• usefulness noun
• unuseful adjective
• unusefully adverb
• unusefulness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of useful¹

First recorded in 1585–95; use + -ful

Example Sentences

By analyzing its new model, the team came to surprising conclusions that could prove useful for robot design, artificial intelligence, and for better understanding of human memory.

Read more on Science Daily

"I think it's useful. Teachers can find out if we're cheating or not but when you use it in the correct way it can help you", said Grace.

Read more on BBC

Where AI could be useful to creators like MrBeast is behind the scenes, such as in production or graphics.

Read more on BBC

Under the Official Secrets Act, anyone accused of spying can only be prosecuted if the information they passed on was useful to an enemy.

Read more on BBC

Once the designers abandon their dream of shoehorning functionality into humanoid appearance, the result may actually be useful — for humans.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• advantageous 
• appropriate 
• convenient 
• effective 
• favorable 
• fruitful 
• good 
• handy 
• helpful 
• practical 
• pragmatic 
• profitable 
• proper 
• suitable