See Also:

useful (iou)



useful adjective & noun. L16.
[from USE noun + -FUL. Cf. earlier usefulness.]
A. adjective.
Of use for a purpose; serviceable; producing or able to produce good results, advantageous, beneficial. Also (colloq.), reasonably effective or successful. L16.
make oneself useful perform useful services, be helpful. useful load the maximum load that can be carried by an aircraft etc. in addition to its own unladen weight.
R. Macaulay How useful he was helping in the garden. N. Stacey A useful school sportsman..got into the first eleven at most sports at Dartmouth. A. N. Wilson A most useful addition to the Society's list of titles.
Designating an odd-job man. Austral. colloq. M19.
b. noun.
A useful article. rare. Only in M17.
An odd-job man. Austral. colloq. L19.
usefully adverb M17.
usefulness noun (a) rare the advantage or benefit of a place etc.; (b) the state or condition of being useful; rare an instance of this, a benefit, an advantage: L15.