Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

useful

[yoos-fuhl]

Example Sentences

adjective

being of use or service; serving some purpose; advantageous, helpful, or of good effect: a useful member of society.

of practical use, as for doing work; producing material results; supplying common needs: the useful arts; useful work.

Origin:
1585–95; use + -ful

Related forms

use·ful·ly, adverb

use·ful·ness, noun

un·use·ful, adjective

un·use·ful·ly, adverb

un·use·ful·ness, noun

Synonyms
1, 2. profitable, efficacious, beneficial.

Antonyms
1, 2. useless.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To useful

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Useful is always a great word to know.

So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Example Sentences

Many universities have put their career information online, and these sites are useful for anyone seeking an academic job.

Yet for all its weirdness, antimatter is real not fictional, and has already proved useful in medicine.

Discuss the ways that maps of different scales can be useful.

EXPAND

Many universities have put their career information online, and these sites are useful for anyone seeking an academic job.

Yet for all its weirdness, antimatter is real not fictional, and has already proved useful in medicine.

Discuss the ways that maps of different scales can be useful.

Ohm's law is useful to explain currents in copper wires.

He was also a useful antidote against a certain strain of biological romanticism.

Table-high fireplace is as useful as it is romantic.

The capacitive stylus has turned out to be surprisingly useful for a lot of things, but up until now it was never a flirting tool.

The program there helps him broaden his skills in entrepreneurship, among other skills useful to an aspiring scientist.

But, it turns out, a solar sail need not always be particularly large to be useful.

Some people consider hedgehogs useful pets because they prey on many common garden pests.

It's all well and good to find ways of turning waste materials into useful products rather than discarding them.

Perhaps it's my way of rebelling against a world in which everything must be useful.

Useful for splashes of garden color and for cutting.

Though useful for creating vigorous hybrids, the process frustrates breeders who wish to duplicate prize plants.

As long as there are real enemies in the world, there will be useful dramatic versions of them in our heads.

The question is whether anything useful can be said about that process at the level of the economy as a whole.

These clues are useful in determining how closely the animals are related to modern species.

Made up of long hydrocarbon chains, it can be broken down into a slew of useful substances and products.

But no matter how useful computers become, they won't replace human fossil hunters anytime soon.

Pretty and useful temporary carpet more add to my plant list.

The new breed of experimental, low-powered laser weapons may or may not become useful on the battlefield.

I've never understood why there's a tension between those who study useful things and those who study beautiful things.

There is no broader social measurement tool that officials would agree is valid and useful.

And the cross was a militarily useful symbol that had figured dramatically in actual battles.

New technology can integrate useful virtual information with the real world.

The dentist became a useful pipeline for rulers who wished to keep in touch without formal summit meetings.

Mulch is useful over an area of bare soil and around planted areas.

But there's a limit to how useful nonlocality can be.

It must be used in concert with other data collection to truly be useful.

Way more up front, ethical and actually useful for people.

Its job is to store only the important stuff and toss out what isn't useful.

Now the team is investigating whether it can collect useful images from infected animals kept under isolation conditions.

The game demands a mastery of one's impulses and a calmness in moments of anxiety, useful lessons beyond the court.

Popular and useful groundcover, though it will escape into lawns unless contained.

Metallic foams may prove useful for planes and ships because they are lighter than solid metals and stronger than plastic.

Each of these resources is useful or fun, and some are both.

Nonetheless, it has also proven useful as a gauge of an economy's capacity to improve living standards.

Part lV includes a comprehensive glossary, useful online resources and a list of further reading suggestions.

Lucid dreaming is useful for treating chronic nightmares and perhaps even anxiety.

He collected unusual life forms in the hope that one of them might someday prove useful.

H imalayan native useful as screen, background plant.

There are a few items that everyone should have in their toolkit, things so useful that there really is no excuse not to own them.

Some argue that accreditation serves as a useful proxy to diminish the administrative burden of course review.

Doppler radar can detect strong rotation within a storm, information useful in predicting the likelihood of a tornado.

It would have been more useful to first use the perspective of the human animal.

Useful as ground cover, bank planting and foreground shrub.

Energizer has launched an extremely useful range of products.

New research in this area may be highly useful in efforts to devise international strategies to address global warming.

By understanding the relevant cellular and biochemical structures, it may be possible to develop new and useful bio-materials.

Useful for edgings in shady places, as ground cover, and as soothing contrast to brightly colored flowers.

His tools are small, beautiful, and extremely useful.

Certain polypores may be useful in treating immune diseases or in helping cancer patients recover.

Despite our efforts to provide useful and accurate information, errors may appear from time to time.

Decorative, useful patio tree and favorite bonsai subject.

The simple but useful site lists community projects in this developing country by region.

The technology necessary to mine them and bring back useful material has not been developed, however.

S turdy ferns useful for landscaping in mild climates.

Ash from your fireplace or outdoor fire pit can be a useful amendment to your garden.

But not all genes are equally useful in tracing ancestries.

Also useful between stepping-stones or as a low edging along path add to my plant list.

Cognition/experience of fairness is a useful adaptation, and likely arose long before our own species.

Useful and attractive in perennial borders and herb gardens.

Fractals are useful for modeling textures and describing distributions but also don't have any deep theoretical roots.

Useful for naturalizing at woodland edges or in barely maintained areas.

The mathematicians are producing useful models but the term dimension is a misnomer.

All are useful as color accents, and as stand-alone flowering trees for display.

Perhaps the organization is useful in the way that the automatic withdrawal reaction is useful when touching a hot stove.

Also known as shade fabric, this woven material is useful as a temporary or long-term screen against hot sun and drying winds.

The data is equally useful to all people and will be made available.

They‘re useful for filling gaps between paving blocks.

Useful as hedge or screen more add to my plant list.

Useful tree for mini-oasis or transition between cultivated garden and native desert.

Plants are useful for winter arrangements and for garden color.

Useful as a ground cover in full sun or partial shade add to my plant list.

Also useful between stepping more add to my plant list enlarge.

Decorative, useful patio tree and favorite bonsai subject add to my plant list.

Interesting and useful where many less hardy vines would freeze.

But it is a permanent garden element, handsome and useful whether or not there is a fire going.

Useful in big rock gardens, in rough areas along drives, in wild plantings.

Spread by rhizomes and are useful for summer color in difficult climates.

Equally useful in groups as an informal screen or singly in a mixed shrub border.

All types are useful for many months of bright color in partial or full shade.

Useful as textural accents or as bank or ground covers.

Again, the government produces and releases raw data, and the private sector transforms it into something useful for the public.

Much of the rest is fabulously expensive, and only useful if you have a rare genetic disease.

He said he found this a useful trick when addressing restive or sleepy audiences".

Some useful menu commands still have no keyboard equivalents.

Data about the evolution of tiny crustaceans called whale lice can reveal useful facts about the history of right whales.

I've seen two self-help sources in my life that were useful.

For those familiar with the children's game of leapfrog, it's a useful metaphor.

Atomic clocks are shrinking to microchip size, heading for space--and approaching the limits of useful precision.

Once the change happened, the college and its professors would be expected to enhance all electronic texts in useful ways.

It looks possible, though, that something useful is indeed about to happen.

The construction of dams represents one effort to control water and make it more useful to people.

Debt-for-nature swaps can be useful financial mechanisms for helping countries reduce debt without exploiting the environment.

It's so useful you'll rarely put it away, giving it a permanent spot on your desk.

Stalin knew the telephone was a useful instrument in his cat and mouse games.

Some great useful informations to be absorbed from this post.

Geostationary orbit is tremendously useful for telecommunications.

Plants are useful as screens and as informal or clipped hedges.

One is that mentorship programmes may be particularly useful for promoting entrepreneurship among blacks.

Graphic organizers are useful tools for building knowledge and organizing information.

When cells reach the end of their useful life, internal mechanisms kick in and the cell automatically perishes, a process.

It also gave her a knack for taking household items and making them even more useful.

It is difficult to think how a bee could be more useful.

Excess radio energy is a kind of pollution, because it can disrupt useful communications.

Ginsberg was an idiot who had nothing useful to say.

The moon is pockmarked with cold, wet oases that could contain enough water ice to be useful to manned missions.

In both cases the actions of other people send a signal that may be useful for others to follow.

We hope you find this extension useful as well as easy to use.

Collect sunlight and extract useful forms of energy from it, rather than expending energy on air conditioning.

The goal was to turn the area into a larger, more useful space for gathering and entertaining.

But giving people condoms can be particularly useful.

The walrus' other characteristic features are equally useful.

Grandin gives tips that may be useful for caretakers of pets and farm animals.

So his hobby was incredibly useful so that he remained fresh at all times.

It's about how sabermetrics, while extremely useful in many situations, can also lead us to conclude that it's.

To think about the common good, the purpose of life and how to live, it has proven useful to use religious stories or theology.

T railing, arching stems that root where they touch soil make these plants useful as ground and bank covers.

Sony has unveiled the latest firmware updates for its two flagship systems and both bring with them a wealth of useful additions.

On the wider test of performing a useful economic role, emerging-market banks have come out of the crisis well.

Many experts believed that the markings are camouflage, useful in concealing eggs from predators.

Such bundles can not only transport an optical image over a tortuous path, but can also transform it in a number of useful ways.

The effects are also quite size-dependent, so they might also be useful for sorting particles of different sizes.

The recent financial crisis has offered a useful lesson in economics.

If a compound useful to science is found, the financial benefits will flow back to the network that provided the initial samples.

But producing useful compounds is far from all chemists.

Still, it could be useful one day, for instance in new types of optical switches for computers.

Lagrangian coherent structures should also prove useful at sea.

Certainly, in the topsy-turvy world of crosswords, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand is often useful.

Both of these showed useful improvements in patients' management and understanding of their disease.

Tube worms and other animals use bacteria to convert sulphurous minerals and alike into useful substances.

Except in desert regions, useful on hot slopes and in areas that get little attention.

However, it might be more useful to have it as an ebook.

Useful advice, but zombies were far from anyone's mind.

Another useful tool to find distances on a map is to convert the stated scale using the following mathematical formulas.

Time after time when a crime is committed the video from nearby cameras is unavailable or of too poor quality to be useful.

Cognitive biases are a useful mechanism for dealing with uncertain but potentially important information.

Climate-watchers found the graph useful for demonstrating how many money-saving or cheap technologies there were.

It could also deliver supplies to hard-to-reach places, making it especially useful in military and emergency situations.

We found the pointed toe intriguing, but ultimately not useful.

I've found the idea of tribalism to be increasingly useful in understanding political behaviour.

Bacteria in the marsupials' intestines turn the tough leaves into useful chemicals.

Maybe this would extend the useful life of the shuttle.

Useful plant in desert landscapes add to my plant list.

Those keychain flashlights and laser pointers are more annoying than they are useful.

As anyone who has been rear-ended on a highway knows, judging distance by sight is a useful skill.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

useful (ˈjuːsfʊl)

—*adj*
1.	able to be used advantageously, beneficially, or for several purposes; helpful or serviceable
2.	informal commendable or capable: a useful term's work

—n
3.	informal (Austral) an odd-jobman or general factotum

'usefully

—*adv*

'usefulness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Word Dynamo By Dictionary.com

Searching for useful?
How many words do you actually know?

FIND OUT

alpha-fetoprotein antiemetic asset Athena Baedeker belated

Matching Quote

"Trees not trimmed don't make good timber; children not educated don't make useful people."

-unknown author

Partners:Word Bloglines Citysearch The Daily Beast Ask Answers Ask Kids Life123 Sendori Thesaurus

About Privacy Policy Terms of Use API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Help