useful
Americanadjective
-
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
-
of practical use, as for doing work; producing material results; supplying common needs.
the useful arts; useful work.
- Synonyms:
- beneficial, efficacious, profitable
- Antonyms:
- useless
adjective
-
able to be used advantageously, beneficially, or for several purposes; helpful or serviceable
-
informal commendable or capable
a useful term's work
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of useful
Explanation
If you can use something, it's useful. Useful things are handy for whatever you're doing. If something is just what you need or you just find it helpful, then it's useful. A hammer is useful in building many things. Coasters are useful if you don't want a coffee table to get stains. College degrees are useful — or necessary — for many careers. MacGyver would tell you that just about anything can be useful at some point: it all depends what you need to do.
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.
A possessed vacuum cleaner sparks a revolution in “A Useful Ghost,” a satire that’s “Brazil” by way of Bangkok.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 4, 2026
Appeared in the November 6, 2025, print edition as 'Kevin Roberts’s Useful Blunder'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 5, 2025
The Really Useful Group, his longtime licensing and production company, has been rebranded as LW Entertainment, and is now headed by James McKnight, who previously worked with J.K.
From MarketWatch • Oct. 10, 2025
Russell’s “A Domestic Cook Book: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Recipes for the Kitchen,” published in 1866, served as an inspiration for Shanti.
From Salon • Feb. 2, 2025
“You know your remedies. Useful skill. Your grandparents were healers?”
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
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.
