beneficial
[ben-uh-fish-uhl]
- conferring benefit; advantageous; helpful: the beneficial effect of sunshine.
- Law.
- helpful in the meeting of needs: a beneficial association.
- involving the personal enjoyment of proceeds: a beneficial owner.
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Origin of beneficial
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
1. harmful.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
profitable, good, useful, helpful, valuable, constructive, benign, favorable, gainful, healthful, propitious, salubrious, salutary, serviceable, toward, wholesome, worthy, favoringExamples from the Web for beneficial
Contemporary Examples
“We can try to improve things that are beneficial to Turkers,” Milland added.
So the idea that inclusion of gay characters in media is beneficial is well established.
Popular Novelist Ken Follett Is a Slightly Unlikely and Certainly Unsung Gay IconWilliam O’Connor
October 1, 2014
The review also notes that sucralose could potentially harm the beneficial bacteria in our gut.
Diversification was as beneficial in financial investments as it was in growing crops and raising livestock.
Why do you think psychedelics are so beneficial in helping Vets with PTD?
Historical Examples
But one of them, the distraction of seeing the world, is innocent and beneficial.
A Treatise on Parents and ChildrenGeorge Bernard Shaw
It was very certain that the exercise he was giving his brain must be beneficial.
Her Father's DaughterGene Stratton-Porter
Its effects were, however, beneficial to the villagers who survived.
English VillagesP. H. Ditchfield
He did not see the beauty, the nobleness of it, nor yet its beneficial power.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
Medicine may have a bad taste, and yet have beneficial results.
One Day's CourtshipRobert Barr
beneficial
- (sometimes foll by to) causing a good result; advantageous
- law entitling a person to receive the profits or proceeds of propertya beneficial interest in land
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Word Origin
C15: from Late Latin beneficiālis, from Latin beneficium kindness
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for beneficial
adj.
mid-15c., "helpful, advantageous," from Middle French bénéficial and directly from Latin beneficialis "pertaining to a favor," from beneficium (see benefice). Related: Beneficially.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper