helpful
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- helpfully adverb
- helpfulness noun
- overhelpful adjective
- overhelpfully adverb
- overhelpfulness noun
- quasi-helpful adjective
- quasi-helpfully adverb
- unhelpful adjective
- unhelpfully adverb
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.
No constitutional provision was that helpful to Fluor either.
From Slate • Apr. 22, 2026
When they report neighborhood problems to the city, Johnson said, “sometimes they’re helpful and many times they’re not, so we end up doing things on our own.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 18, 2026
In high-stakes negotiations, it is helpful to use language that our adversaries understand, even if that sometimes makes supporters uncomfortable.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
This could be especially helpful when individual signals are weak, unclear, or easily misinterpreted.
From Science Daily • Apr. 15, 2026
“I understand,” I said, though I didn’t know how helpful this information was—it wasn’t uncommon for messages to be repeated multiple times anyway, just because of static or bad connections.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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.
