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Definitions

useful

[yoos-fuhl] / ˈyus fəl /
ADJECTIVE
beneficial, valuable
Synonyms
STRONGEST
advantageous appropriate convenient effective favorable fruitful good handy helpful practical pragmatic profitable proper suitable
STRONG
utile
WEAK
all-purpose applied brave commodious fit functional instrumental meet of assistance of service of use practicable propitious purposive salutary serviceable subsidiary suited toward
Antonyms
STRONGEST
awkward bad disadvantageous disagreeable harmful hurtful impotent improper inappropriate incapable inconvenient injurious misbehaving unacceptable unfitting unhandy unhelpful unproductive unskilled unsuitable unsuited useless worthless
WEAK
unusable unvaluable

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.

Which isn’t to say that the top prospects they selected weren’t useful players.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

But Harrison, of Washington State University, said having better data would be useful.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

In the world of quantum computing, five years hardly seems like enough time to address the hurdles impeding the development of scalable, practically useful systems.

From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026

A Stanford A.I. index study released this week did the useful work of quantifying just how big a gap there is in sentiment toward A.I. between the people working on it and the general public.

From Slate • Apr. 14, 2026

The other two made apologies as well, using the socially useful phrases they had studied so diligently.

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood