usefulness
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use·ful
(yo͞os′fəl)adj.
1. Having a beneficial use; serviceable: a useful kitchen gadget.
2. Being of practical use: a useful job; useful members of society.
use′ful·ly adv.
use′ful·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Usefulness/Uselessness
- As much use as a life preserver to a duck —Anon
- Effective as a bullet —Edgar Saltus
- Effective as an umbrella in a hurricane —Anon
- Effective as bailing out a boat with a sieve —Anon
- Effective as chicken soup. It can’t hurt —Anon
- Effective as dousing a fire with a dixie cup full of water —Anon
- Effective as fixing a broken leg with a bandaid —Anon
- Feel like an old clerk on a high stool —Wilfrid Sheed
- Handy as a pocket in a shirt —Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms
- Helpful as a bathing suit in a blizzard —Ed McBain
- (The information was probably as) helpful as a wooden compass —William Mcllvanney
- Helpful as throwing a drowning man both ends of a rope —Arthur Baer
- Ineffective as breaking into a bank vault and taking a bag of pennies —Anon
- Ineffective like putting the steak on the fire and the skillet on top of the steak —Norman Mailer
- Ineffective, like sending flies in pursuit of fly paper —Elliot Janeway, Barron’s, January 20, 1986
- (Lonely and) ineffectual as two left-handed gloves —Helen Rowland
- Ineffectually as a firefly in Hell —Stephen Vincent Benet
- It [Medicare’s health-care coverage] is like walking around in a bulletproof vest with a hole over the heart —Senator John Heinz, Wall Street Journal, October 15, 1986
- It’s [everything valued by others] like so much fluff —Anton Chekhov
- A lot of useless barging around, like a man with his sleeve in a thresher —Richard Ford
- Making lists is like taking too many notes at school; you feel you’ve achieved something when you haven’t —Dodie Smith
- Pointless … like you’d give caviar to an elephant —William Faulkner
- (Educating you would be about as) redundant as teaching a lion to like red meat —line from movie Victor-Victoria, spoken by Julie Andrews
- Sending a teacher into a classroom with no cane is like sending a boxer into the ring with one hand tied behind his back —Philip Squire
- Some men are like a clock on a roof … useful only to the neighbors —Austin O’Malley
- Some people are like wheelbarrows, only useful when pushed, and very easily upset —Jack Hebert
- Unhelpful … like someone running round with black-currant lozenges to the victims of an earthquake —Josephine Tey
- Unnecessary as another designer label —Anon
- Useful as a bale of hay in a garage —Anon
- Useful as a bicyle without tires —Anon
- Useful as a buttonhole without buttons —Anon
- Useful as a comb to a bald man —Anon
- Useful as a defective parachute —Anon
- Useful as an annuity —Anon
- Useful as an umbrella to a fish —Anon
- Useful as a pocket with a big hole in it —Anon
- Useful as a sixth finger —Anon
- Useful as a Swiss army knife —Anon
- Useful as a thermometer or a scale without markings —Anon
- Useful as a third nostril —Peter Benchley
- Useful as hayfever when the pollen count is high —Mike Fredman
- Useful as information trying to convey the locality and intentions of a cloud —Joseph Conrad
- Useful as teats on a boar hog —American colloquialism
- Useful as the marketable skill mom told you to acquire —Anon
- Useless as a bell that doesn’t ring —Anon
- Useless as putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound —Anon
- Useless as a broken feather —Anon
- Useless as a bump on a log —Anon
A variation on this familiar simile from The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley: “Stood around like a knot on a log.”
- Useless as a car without gasoline —Anon
- Useless as a glass eye at a keyhole —Louis Monta Bell
- Useless … as a half-built bridge —William H. Hallhan
- Useless as an expectant lover —Ellen Glasgow
- Useless as a single glove —Anon
- Useless as a torn sock —Marianne Hauser
- Useless as a twisted arm —Desmond O’Grady
- Useless as Ronald Reagan’s right ear —Joseph Wambaugh
- Useless … like buying an air conditioner for a building without electricity —Anon
- Useless … like the cow that gives a good pail of milk, and then kicks it over —H. G. Bohn’s Handbook of Proverbs
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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Noun | 1. | usefulness - the quality of being of practical use quality - an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone; "the quality of mercy is not strained"--Shakespeare detergence, detergency - detergent quality; the quality of having cleansing power function, purpose, use, role - what something is used for; "the function of an auger is to bore holes"; "ballet is beautiful but what use is it?" helpfulness - the property of providing useful assistance use - a particular service; "he put his knowledge to good use"; "patrons have their uses" serviceability, serviceableness, usability, usableness, useableness - the quality of being able to provide good service instrumentality - the quality of being instrumental for some purpose practicality - concerned with actual use rather than theoretical possibilities practicability, practicableness - the quality of being usable |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
usefulness
noun helpfulness, value, worth, use, help, service, benefit, profit, utility, effectiveness, convenience, practicality, efficacy His interest lay in the usefulness of his work.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
usefulness
nounThe American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
نَفْع ، إفادَه
užitečnost
nytte
hyödyllisyys
gagnseminytsemi
uporabnost
faydalılıkyararlılık
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
usefulness
n → Nützlichkeit f; (of person, contribution also) → Wert m (of discussion) → Fruchtbarkeit f ? outlive
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
use2
(juːs) noun1. the act of using or state of being used. The use of force to persuade workers to join a strike cannot be justified; This telephone number is for use in emergencies.
2. the/a purpose for which something may be used. This little knife has plenty of uses; I have no further use for these clothes.
3. (often in questions or with negatives) value or advantage. Is this coat (of) any use to you?; It's no use offering to help when it's too late.
4. the power of using. She lost the use of her right arm as a result of the accident.
5. permission, or the right, to use. They let us have the use of their car while they were away.
ˈuseful adjective helpful or serving a purpose well. a useful tool/dictionary; She made herself useful by doing the washing for her mother.
ˈusefulness nounˈusefully adverb
in a useful way. He spent the day usefully in repairing the car.
ˈuseless adjective having no use or no effect. Why don't you throw away those useless things?; We can't do it – it's useless to try.
be in use, be out of use to be used or not used. How long has the gymnasium been in use / out of use?
come in useful to become useful. My French came in useful on holiday.
have no use for to despise. I have no use for such silliness / silly people.
it's no use it's impossible or useless. He tried in vain to do it, then said `It's no use.'
make (good) use of, put to (good) useHe makes use of his training; He puts his training to good use in that job.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.