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Webster 1913 Edition


Useful

Use′ful

,
Adj.
Full of use, advantage, or profit; producing, or having power to produce, good; serviceable for any end or object; helpful toward advancing any purpose; beneficial; profitable; advantageous;
as, vessels and instruments
useful
in a family; books
useful
for improvement;
useful
knowledge;
useful
arts
.
To what can I
useful
!
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition


Useful

U'SEFUL

,
Adj.
Producing or having power to produce good; beneficial; profitable; helpful towards advancing any purpose; as vessels and instruments useful in a family; books useful for improvement; useful knowledge; useful arts.

Definition 2024


useful

useful

English

Adjective

useful (comparative usefuller or more useful, superlative usefullest or most useful)

  1. Having a practical or beneficial use.
    • 2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist:
      Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.

Usage notes

  • Prepositions: useful is used in useful for <purpose>, useful for <person> and useful to <person>. The words useful to are also found in construction such as It is useful to do, in which to marks an infinitive rather than being a preposition.

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