Standard Lemma guide

useful

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈjuːsfl̩/
  • Received-Pronunciation: [ˈjuːsfɫ̩]
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈjusfl̩/
  • Canada, General-American: [ˈjusfɫ̩]
  • California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈjʉːsfəl/
  • Australian, New-Zealand: [ˈjʉːsfɫ̩]
  • CMU ARPABET: Y UW1 S F AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having a practical or beneficial use.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • prove useful
  • practically useful
  • That’s a very useful tool for gardeners.
  • She found the information extremely useful.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: handy, noteful, salutary, serviceable, utilitarian, utile, purposive

Antonyms: unuseful, useless, unusable, unutilizable, inutile

2

adjective

Meaning 2

being of use or service

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the girl felt motherly and useful
  • a useful job
  • a useful member of society

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: utile

Antonyms: useless

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

having a useful function

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • utilitarian steel tables

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: utilitarian

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From use + -ful.

Across languages

Translations

131 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: nuttig — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Albanian: dobishëm — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Southern Altai: тузалу (tuzalu) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Arabic: مُفِيد (mufīd) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Arabic: نَافِع (nāfiʕ) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Arabic: مفيد (mufīd) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Armenian: օգտակար (ōgtakar) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Asturian: útil — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Azerbaijani: lazımlı — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Azerbaijani: faydalı — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Azerbaijani: xeyirli — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Belarusian: кары́сны (karýsny) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Bengali: ব্যবহারযোগ্য (beboharjoggo) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Bulgarian: поле́зен (polézen) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Catalan: útil — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Chinese Cantonese: 有用 (jau5 jung6) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有用 (yǒuyòng) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Chinese Mandarin: 實用 /实用 (shíyòng) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Czech: užitečný — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Danish: nyttig — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Danish: tjenlig — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Dutch: nuttig — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Esperanto: utila — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Estonian: kasulik — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Faroese: nýttigur — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Finnish: hyödyllinen — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Finnish: käytännöllinen — having a practical or beneficial use
  • French: utile — having a practical or beneficial use
  • West-Frisian: nuttich — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Galician: útil — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Georgian: სასარგებლო (sasargeblo) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Georgian: მარგებელი (margebeli) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Georgian: გამოსადეგი (gamosadegi) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Georgian: ვარგისი (vargisi) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • German: nützlich — having a practical or beneficial use
  • German: brauchbar — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Gothic: 𐌱𐍂𐌿𐌺𐍃 (bruks) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍃𐍄𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃 (waurstweigs) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Greek: χρήσιμος (chrísimos) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Ancient Greek: χρήσιμος (khrḗsimos) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Haitian Creole: itil — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Hebrew: שִׁמּוּשִׁי (shimushí) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Hebrew: מוֹעִיל (mo'íl) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Hindi: उपयोगी (upyogī) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Hindi: उपयुक्त (upyukt) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Hungarian: hasznos — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Icelandic: gagnlegur — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Ido: utila — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Indonesian: berguna — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Irish: úsáideach — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Irish: acrach — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Italian: utile — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Japanese: 使える (tsukaeru) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Japanese: 有用な (yūyō na) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Japanese: 便利な (benri na) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Japanese: 役立つ (yakudatsu) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Kabuverdianu: jeitozu — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Kazakh: пайдалы (paidaly) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Korean: 유용하다 (yuyonghada) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Korean: 도움이 되다 (doum-i doeda) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Central Kurdish: بەسوود (besûd) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Central Kurdish: بەکەڵک (bekellk) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Central Kurdish: بە دەسد (be desd) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Kyrgyz: пайдалуу (paydaluu) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Lao: ທົ່ວໄປ (thūa pai) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Latin: ūtilis — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Latvian: derīgs — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Lithuanian: naudingas — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Luxembourgish: sënnvoll — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Macedonian: користен (koristen) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Malay: berguna — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Māori: whaihua — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Mauritian Creole: itil — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Mongolian: хэрэгтэй (xeregtej) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tjenlig — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Norwegian Bokmål: nyttig — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tenleg — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Occitan: util — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Old English: nytt — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Pannonian Rusyn: хасновити (xasnoviti) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Papiamentu: útil — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Iranian Persian: سودْمَنْد (sudmand) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Iranian Persian: مُفید (mofid) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Iranian Persian: سودْآوَر (sud'âvar) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Iranian Persian: فایِدِهناک (fâyede-nâk) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Plautdietsch: deenstboa — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Plautdietsch: nutzboa — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Polish: pożyteczny — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Polish: przydatny — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Polish: użyteczny — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Portuguese: útil — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Romanian: util — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Romanian: folositor — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Romanian: trebuincios — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Russian: поле́зный (poléznyj) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Russian: приго́дный (prigódnyj) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Russian: практи́чный (praktíčnyj) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Russian: нели́шний (nelíšnij) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Scottish Gaelic: goireasach — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Serbo-Croatian: употрѐбљив — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Serbo-Croatian: ко̏рӣстан — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Serbo-Croatian: upotrèbljiv — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Serbo-Croatian: kȍrīstan — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Slovak: užitočný — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Slovene: uporaben — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Spanish: útil — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Spanish: servir — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Swahili: faida — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Swedish: nyttig — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Swedish: användbar — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Tagalog: makabuluhan — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Tagalog: may bisa — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Tajik: муфид (mufid) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Tajik: судманд (sudmand) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Tajik: фоидаовар (foyidaovar) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Telugu: ఉపయోగకరము (upayōgakaramu) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Thai: ประโยชน์ (bprà-yòot) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Turkish: faydalı — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Turkish: yararlı — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Turkmen: peýdaly — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Tuvaluan: aogaa — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Ukrainian: кори́сний (korýsnyj) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Urdu: فائِدَہ مَنْد (fāida mand) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Urdu: مُفِید (mufīd) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Uyghur: پايدىلىق (paydiliq) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Uzbek: foydali — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Vietnamese: có ích — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Welsh: buddiol — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Yiddish: נוציק (nutsik) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Yiddish: נוצלעך (nutslekh) — having a practical or beneficial use
  • Yiddish: ניצלעך (nitslekh) — having a practical or beneficial use
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