Standard Lemma guide

usefulness

noun · 2 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.

  • /ˈjuːsfəlnəs/
  • Mid-Atlantic, US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: Y UW1 S F AH0 L N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality or degree of being useful.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • The usefulness of his latest reorganisation has been disputed.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the quality of being of practical use

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: utility

Antonyms: uselessness

Broader terms: quality

Narrower terms: detergency, detergence, function, purpose, role, use, helpfulness, serviceability, serviceableness, usableness, useableness, usability, instrumentality, practicality, practicability, practicableness

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English useful Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English usefulness From useful + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: օգտակարություն (ōgtakarutʻyun) — quality of being useful
  • Catalan: utilitat — quality of being useful
  • Chinese Mandarin: 效用 (xiàoyòng) — quality of being useful
  • Chinese Mandarin: 用處 /用处 (yòngchu) — quality of being useful
  • Mwali Comorian: maana — quality of being useful
  • Czech: užitečnost — quality of being useful
  • Dutch: bruikbaarheid — quality of being useful
  • Egyptian: Ax-x:W-Y1:Z2 (ꜣḫw) — quality of being useful
  • Esperanto: utilo — quality of being useful
  • Esperanto: utileco — quality of being useful
  • Finnish: hyödyllisyys — quality of being useful
  • French: utilité — quality of being useful
  • Galician: utilidade — quality of being useful
  • Georgian: ვარგისობა (vargisoba) — quality of being useful
  • Georgian: გამოყენებადობა (gamoq̇enebadoba) — quality of being useful
  • German: Nützlichkeit — quality of being useful
  • Greek: χρησιμότητα (chrisimótita) — quality of being useful
  • Hindi: उपयोगिता (upyogitā) — quality of being useful
  • Hindi: उपयुक्तता (upyuktatā) — quality of being useful
  • Icelandic: gagnsemi — quality of being useful
  • Japanese: 有用性 (yūyōsei) — quality of being useful
  • Latin: utilitas — quality of being useful
  • Malayalam: പ്രയോജനം (prayōjanaṁ) — quality of being useful
  • Old English: nytnes — quality of being useful
  • Polish: użyteczność — quality of being useful
  • Polish: pożyteczność — quality of being useful
  • Polish: użytek — quality of being useful
  • Polish: pożytek — quality of being useful
  • Portuguese: utilidade — quality of being useful
  • Romanian: utilitate — quality of being useful
  • Russian: поле́зность (poléznostʹ) — quality of being useful
  • Slovak: užitočnosť — quality of being useful
  • Spanish: utilidad — quality of being useful
Real reading context

usefulness in complete knowledge articles