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.
The ride raised £61,000 for the Oxford Children's Hospital, where Rori said staff had been "so helpful and so lovely".
From BBC • Jul. 10, 2026
Holness pushed back: “Let us be clear, the Cuban doctors in Jamaica have been incredibly helpful to us.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 9, 2026
While tickets are now fully digital, the accessibility team did send out a helpful printed leaflet detailing the facilities we would have access to.
From BBC • Jul. 6, 2026
Ordinarily that would show dangerous arrogance, but this new study finds that in the case of pure news it actually is helpful.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 4, 2026
Judge Byrne informed Russo’s lawyer that such observations were not helpful.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
