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.
“That has now proliferated into a myth that won’t quit, yet it isn’t actually helpful in today’s algorithms, as airlines price in real-time based on inventory.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
“They were extremely helpful in just sort of helping me navigate who I needed to talk to.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
Over the past century, several medications initially promoted as helpful sleep treatments were eventually found to carry serious risks of dependence and habit formation.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2026
Here it’s helpful to know that tooling—the metal-stamping equipment that automakers use to produce body panels by the tens of thousands—is one of the biggest capital expenses in any production line.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026
So she swam behind them, in case she could be helpful, and it was a good thing she did.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
