helpful

[help-fuhl]

adjective

1. giving or rendering aid or assistance; of service.

   Your comments were very helpful.

   Synonyms: advantageous, beneficial, convenient, useful
   Antonyms: inconvenient, useless

helpful

/ ˈhɛlpfʊl /

adjective

1. serving a useful function; giving help

Other Word Forms

• helpfulness noun
• helpfully adverb
• overhelpful adjective
• overhelpfully adverb
• overhelpfulness noun
• quasi-helpful adjective
• quasi-helpfully adverb
• unhelpful adjective
• unhelpfully adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of helpful¹

First recorded in 1300–50; help + -ful

Example Sentences

The International Atomic Energy Agency is helpful, but when its members disagree politically, it is as paralyzed as the rest of the U.N. galaxy.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Games start on time and security is plentiful and helpful for first-time visitors.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The cookbook offers helpful guides to the different varieties of herring—from New Catch to schmaltz—smoked salmon and specialty fish such as sturgeon and sable and caviar.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

To achieve this, they received help from a new Google service, but before we go any further, it might be helpful to know how GPS works:

Read more on Science Daily

It’s helpful to note that bear markets, typically defined as a 20% pullback in a major stock benchmark, are inevitable, but they don’t tend to last long.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• accessible 
• advantageous 
• applicable 
• conducive 
• constructive 
• convenient 
• cooperative 
• crucial 
• essential 
• favorable 
• friendly 
• important 
• invaluable 
• practical 
• productive 
• profitable 
• significant 
• suitable 
• supportive 
• sympathetic