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usefulness

UK/ˈjuːsfəlnəs/US/ˈjuːsfəlnəs/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,365 of 15,258leans written

Usefulness is how much help something actually is. Prove its usefulness, limited usefulness, the usefulness of the tool.

It is judged by what the thing does rather than by what it promises, which is why the word appears in reviews and assessments. Of a tool or a rule it is measured against a purpose — nothing is useful in the abstract. Note use, useful, and the -ness ending making a quality into a noun.

Definitions of usefulness

  1. 1nounusefulnessHow much help something actually is.B2+

    “I doubt the usefulness of these meetings; we never decide anything.”

usefulness is a quality of helpfulness.

Where it comes from

From useful + -ness.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

Practise this word

usefulness in the wild

  • While some religions, world views, and philosophies focus on "good versus evil", others deny evil's existence and usefulness in describing people.

    Evil

  • Fisher named the ant after the search engine company Google Inc., as a tribute to the usefulness of Google Earth in his research.

    Proceratium google

  • Tunnell had outlived its usefulness and was sold as a houseboat for a group of men working in the Chesapeake Bay in 1909.

    Ebe W. Tunnell (pilot boat)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • use
  • user
  • abuse
  • usage
  • misuse
  • peruse
  • useful
  • abusive
  • useless
  • disabuse