useful

From use +‎ -ful.

• IPA^(key): /ˈjuːsfəl/

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

1. Having a practical or beneficial use.

   Synonyms: noteful, serviceable, utilitarian

   Antonyms: unuseful, useless, harmful

   • 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.

• 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.