Helpful

Definition: Helpful

Helpful

Adjective

1. Providing assistance or serving a useful function.

2. Of service or assistance; "a child who is helpful around the house can save the mother many steps".

3. Showing a willingness to cooperate; "a helpful cooperative patient"; "parents hope to raise children who are considerate and helpful to others".

Date "helpful" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Synonym: Helpful

Synonym: Charitable. (additional references)

Antonym: unhelpful (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Aid	Adjective: aiding; Verb: auxiliary, adjuvant, helpful; coadjuvant; subservient, ministrant, ancillary, accessory, subsidiary.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Thank you very much, you've been most helpful. (The Untouchables; writing credit: Oscar Fraley; Eliot Ness) I like to look at the law as sort of a guideline, kind of a helpful suggestion (Birds of Prey; writing credit: Adam Armus; Nora Kay Foster) Is that the helpful thing to do (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) I'm giving you helpful information for the good of your survival (Generation X; writing credit: Eric Blakeney) No, just a wild stab in the dark which is incidentally what you'll be getting if you don't start being a bit more helpful. Do you know where she lives (Blackadder II; writing credit: Richard Curtis; Ben Elton)
Lyrics	Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind (Shambala; performing artist: Three Dog Night)
Movie/TV Titles	The Helpful Genie (1951) Helpful Al (1926) A Helpful Sisterhood (1914)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Arthur's Really Helpful Bedtime Stories (reference) Celebrate the Winter Hoidays: Sensational Activities & Helpful Background Information That Help Kids Learn About & Appreciate Five Important holidays (reference) Helpful Hints for Horsemen: Dozens of Handy Tips for the Ranch, Barn, and Tackroom (reference) Little Miss Helpful (Mr. Men Little Miss) (reference) Practical Parenting Tips: Over 1,500 Helpful Hints for the First Five Years (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Pictured is a white nude mouse. The mouse is being held in the rubber-gloved hand of a technician. Nude mice, because of a genetic defect, have no thymus and cannot make certain cells essential for various immune responses. Because of this, they are extremely helpful to scientists working in Immunology Research. Credit: Linda Bartlett (photographer).		Three-sixteenths-inch-long Propylea quatuordecimpunctata (14-spot) lady beetles look for aphids on a fava bean leaf. Scientists think the beetles might be helpful in controlling Russian wheat aphids that now infest 17 Great Plains and Western states. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer..
	The helpful hired man. Credit: Library of Congress.		How to beat reveille ; Helpful hints no. 12. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Author	Quotation
George Eliot	More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.
Publilius Syrus	All delay is helpful, but it does produce wisdom.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Photographs may also be helpful. (references)
		Family counseling is often helpful. (references)
		A mild laxative may also be helpful. (references)
Business		Spanish language catalogs or brochures are also very helpful. (references)
		A local agent is helpful in processing the imports into Morocco. (references)
		It is very helpful for companies that do not have their own financial sources for company investment. (references)
Civil Liberties	Indonesia	The Government had not been particularly effective or helpful in promoting the voluntary and safe return or resettlement of the IDP's in these areas by year's end. (references)
Economic History	Hong Kong	English-Chinese business cards are also helpful. (references)
	Indonesia	Indonesia continues to be a prominent, and generally helpful, leader of the Non-Aligned Movement. (references)
Human Rights	Malaysia	For example, during a trial police may call and interrogate witnesses who have given testimony not helpful to the prosecution. (references)
	Poland	Members of the foundation report that the Government displays a generally positive and helpful attitude towards human rights investigations. (references)
	Afghanistan	During the year, there were credible reports that the Taliban detained and tortured persons who they believed were being helpful to Western journalists. (references)
Political Economy	Malaysia	Malaysia also generally has played a helpful role in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which includes the United States and most economies around the Pacific Rim. (references)
	ROMANIA	Among them: _ the continued pervasive state presence, including in acquisition prices, state management of a large proportion of arable land, state ownership of input supply, storage, marketing, and agro-processing enterprises; _ incomplete land reform which has left many fragmented holdings, for which property rights are still not well-defined; _ limited financial services, few private input suppliers, and little extension services; _ agricultural coupons for tiled lands that arrive too late to be helpful for agricultural production. (references)
Trade	Azerbaijan	The existing donor-backed business finance facilities, while helpful, simply are not large enough to accommodate the need. (references)
Travel	Tanzania	Tanzanians are generally polite, helpful and warm-hearted. (references)
	Russia	Signs are in Russian only, so it is helpful at least to learn the Cyrillic alphabet before you come. (references)
	Chile	Driving in Santiago is similar to the United States, although extra awareness will be helpful in a few areas. (references)
Women	Portugal	The hot line was especially helpful to female victims who were illiterate. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Phrase(s)
Jack Lemmon	Mick was incredibly helpful with that because he could catch a word. If I hit it a little too hard, he would say, let's do it just once more. Watch it right here. And he'd tell me where.
Jodie Foster	Literature, which I think is really helpful because it's about reading and about reading the text and interpreting it.
Laura Schlessinger	I'm not here to help anybody feel better per se. I'm here to help people get better. When they get better and do better, they will feel better. I derive joy from being helpful. It's as simple as that.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
William H. Taft	1909-1913	The information that they have derived from such experts as they have found abroad will undoubtedly be found helpful in the solution of the difficult problem they have in hand.
Calvin Coolidge	1923-1929	Under the helpful influences of restrictive immigration and a protective tariff, employment is plentiful, the rate of pay is high, and wage earners are in a state of contentment seldom before seen.
Lyndon B. Johnson	1963-1969	In my opinion, delay in ratifying it is not going to be helpful to the cause of peace.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Helpful" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.46% of the time. "Helpful" is used about 3,164 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	99.46%	3,147	2,988
Noun (proper)	0.44%	14	93,893
Unclassified Items	0.09%	3	202,518
Total	100.00%	3,164	N/A

Expression using "helpful": be helpful. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "helpful": helpful-humorous.
	Ending with "helpful": cross-but-trying-to-be-helpful, ever-helpful, oh-so-helpful.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "helpful"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaans		behulpsaam (accommodating). (various references)

Albanian		që ndihmon, ndihmues (conducive, contributory, helper, heuristic, instrumental), i gjindshëm (accommodating, complaisant, officious, willing), i dobishëm (beneficent, beneficial, effective, good, handy, instrumental, pay, profitable, salutary, serviceable, subservient, useful, wholesome). (various references)

Arabic		‏فاعل خير (alms, benefactor, philanthropist), ‏مفيد (advantageous, available, beneficial, gainful, of use, profitable, purposive, salutary, serviceable, stead, useful, wholesome), ‏مساعد (accessory, accomplice, advantageous, aid, ancillary, assistance, auxiliary, backing, beneficial, conducive, contributory, favorable, favourable, help, helpmate, propitious, serviceable, subsidiary, supplementary, support, useful). (various references)

Bulgarian		услужлив (accommodating, complaisant, compliant, obliging, serviceable), отзивчив (approachable, co operative, forward, outgoing, respondent, responsive, soft-hearted, sympathetic, understanding, warmhearted), ефикасен (active, effective, effectual, efficacious, efficient, operative, potent, sovereign), благотворен (beneficial, salutary, wholesome), полезен (advantageous, beneficial, good, handy, profitable, salutary, serviceable, useful, wholesome). (various references)

Chinese		有用 (helpfulness, serviceable, useful), 有幫助 . (various references)

Czech		užiteèný (beneficial, good, handy, profitable, salutary, subservient, useful, valuable, worthwhile), ochotný (accommodating, compliant, forthcoming, obliging, ready, ungrudging, willing), nápomocný, kolegiální (loyal), úslužný (accommodating, complaisant, obliging). (various references)

Dutch		hulpvaardig (accommodating), behulpzaam (accommodating). (various references)

Esperanto		helpema (accommodating). (various references)

Finnish		avulias (obliging, willing to help), auttavainen (ready to help). (various references)

French		utile, serviable, efficace, aidants. (various references)

German		hilfreich (administrable, helpfully, instrumental, useful), behilflich (collaborative, cooperative, helping, instrumentally), hilfsbereit (co operative, cooperatively, ready to help). (various references)

Greek		βοηθιτικόσ, βοηθητικόσ (ancillary, assistant, auxiliary, collateral), χρήσιμοσ (practical, serviceable, usable, useful), εξυπηρετικόσ (handy, serviceable, subservient), εξυπηρετικός (accommodating). (various references)

Hebrew		מועיל (advantageous, beneficial, instrumental, salutary, useful), עוזר (aide, assistant, helper, subsidiary). (various references)

Hungarian		hasznos (advantageous, be of service, beneficial, conducive, effective, expedient, instrumental, profitable, remunerative, salutary, serviceable, subservient, to stand in good stead, useful), szolgálatkész (accommodating, complacent, complaisant, compliant, obliging, officious, taut), segíteni kész. (various references)

Indonesian		suka menolong (accomodating). (various references)

Italian		servizievole (accommodating), utile (advantageous, advantagious, convenient, expedient, gains, instrumental, interest, of use, profit, serviceable, subservient, suitable, useful, usefull, worthwhile). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		有用 (useful). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ゆうよう (calm, self-possessed, useful). (various references)

Korean		도움이 되는. (various references)

Manx		coonee (assistant, secondary, take in, take in as dress). (various references)

Norwegian		hjelpsom, nyttig. (various references)

Pig Latin		elpfulhay.(various references)

Portuguese		�til, u/til, serviçal (accommodating, officious, pageboy, peon, servitor), proveitoso (beneficial, profit, profitable, useful), prestativo (neighborly, neighbourly), prestável (serviceable), prestáveis, útil (advantageous, available, conducive, convenient, good, profit, profitable, purposive, serviceable, subservient, useful). (various references)

Portuguese Brazilian		prestativas, prestável. (various references)

Romanian		util (available, profitable, serviceable, sound, subservient, useful, usefully), serviabil (accommodating, obliging, willing), folositor (advantageous, beneficial, effective, expedient, gainful, instrumental, of use, profitable, purposeful, salutary, serviceable, sound, subservient, suitable, useful, wholesome), ajutãtor (accessary, additional, adjuvant, assistant, auxiliary, helping, pony, secondary, subordinate, supplementary). (various references)

Russian		полезный (adjuvant, advantageous, available, beneficial, effective, healthy, instructive, practicable, practical, profitable, salutary, serviceable, useful, wholesome). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		koristan (adjuvant, conducive, profitable, useful, valuable, worthy). (various references)

Spanish		servicial (accommodating, accommodation, obliging, serviceable), útil (adjuvant, good, meaningful, profitable, purposeful, purposive, rewarding, serviceable, useful). (various references)

Swedish		hjälpsam (accommodating, helpfull). (various references)

Turkish		yardımsever (benevolent, caring, charitable, friendly, gracious, humanist, humanitarian, kind, kindly, obliging, public-spirited, well disposed), yardımcı (accessary, accessory, acolyte, adjunct, aid, aide, ancillary, assistant, auxiliary, Band aid, booster, coadjutor, collateral, contributory, cooperative, deputy, donkey, friend, help, helper, helpmate, helpmeet, henchman, lieutenant, obliging, second, sidekick, stand by, sub, subsidiary, suffragan, supporter, supporting, vice-), yararlı (advantageous, beneficial, benign, benignant, efficacious, good, handy, healthful, healthy, of use, profitable, salubrious, salutary, sanative, sanatory, subservient, useful, wholesome), faydalı (advantageous, beneficial, benignant, favorable, favourable, of use, profitable, rewarding, salutary, serviceable, useful, utilitarian, utility, valuable). (various references)

Turkmen		haяyrly (beneficial), яokumly. (various references)

Ukrainian		корисний (adjuvant, advantageous, available, beneficial, conducive, effective, gainful, of avail, practicable, profitable, rewarding, serviceable, useful, valuable, wholesome). (various references)

Vietnamese		giúp đỡ; giúp ích; có ích. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	auxiliaris, benignus, salutare, salutari, salutaria, salutaribus, salutaris, salutarium, utile, utilem, utiles, utilia, utilior, utiliora, utilis, utilium. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "helpful": helpfully, helpfulness, helpfulnesses. (additional references)
	Words ending with "helpful": unhelpful. (additional references)
	Words containing "helpful": unhelpfully. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Helpful" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: chelful, elpful, healpfull, helpfuk, helpfull, shelfful. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "helpful" (pronounced he"lpful)
7	h e" l p f u l	unhelpful.
4	-p f u l	hopeful, worshipful.
3	-f u l	apocryphal, artful, awful, baffle, baleful, bashful, beautiful, blissful, boastful, bountiful, careful, cheerful, colorful, deceitful, delightful, disdainful, disgraceful, disrespectful, distasteful, distrustful, doleful, doubtful, dreadful, duffel, dutiful, eventful, faithful, falafel, fanciful, fateful, fearful, fistful, fitful, flavorful, forceful, forgetful, fretful, frightful, fruitful, gainful, gleeful, graceful, grateful, harmful, hateful, healthful, houseful, hurtful, sorrowful, soulful, spiteful, stifle, stressful, successful, suspenseful, tactful, tasteful, tearful, thankful, insightful, joyful, kerfuffle, lawful, lustful, masterful, meaningful, merciful, mindful, mistrustful, mournful, muffle, needful, neglectful, painful, panful, peaceful, pitiful, playful, plentiful, powerful, prayerful, purposeful, raffle, regretful, remorseful, resentful, reshuffle, resourceful, respectful, restful, riffle, rifle, rightful, rueful, ruffle, scornful, scuffle, shameful, shuffle, sinful, skillful, thoughtful, trifle, triumphal, truffle, truthful, tuneful, uneventful, unfaithful, ungrateful, unhealthful, unlawful, unsuccessful, untruthful, useful, vengeful, waffle, wasteful, watchful, willful, wishful, wistful, woeful, wonderful, wrongful, youthful, zestful.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "e-f-h-l-l-p-u"
	-3 letters: fell, flue, fuel, full, hell, help, hull, pelf, pule, pull.
	-4 letters: elf, ell, feh, feu, flu, hep, hue, hup, leu, peh, pul.
	-5 letters: ef, eh, el, he, pe, uh, up.
	Words containing the letters "e-f-h-l-l-p-u"
	+2 letters: helpfully, hopefully, unhelpful.
	+4 letters: helpfulness, unhelpfully.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
helpful hint	100	helpful hints.com	4
helpful household hint	58	find guide helpful it most source will	4
helpful links	31	helpful hint laundry	4
heloise helpful hint	29	helpful hint home	3
below helpful i	27	helpful interesting links	3
helpful information	25	aromatherapy extensive fact helpful information our product range sheet	3
from heloise helpful hint	23	helpful scripture	3
helpful	18	helouise helpful hint	3
haleys helpful hint	13	hands helpful	3
cleaning helpful hint	12	by heloise helpful hint	3
article best browsing experience get helpful information microso product web	9	helpful links some	3
helpful tip	7	everyone everyone helpful kind road shambala	3
heloise helpful	7	around helpful house tip	3
helpful insect	7	app cost counseling e effective helpful mail most	2
helpful bacterium	7	helpful phrase spanish	2
helpful holiday	5	helpful product	2
heloises helpful hint	5	from helouise helpful hint	2
helpful household tip	4	bible helpful verse	2
ellens helpful hint mary	4	helpful web site	2
helpful quote	4	bacterium harmful helpful	2
		find helpful hope in informative maki site this will	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Helpful

Definition: Helpful

Helpful

Adjective

Synonym: Helpful

Synonyms within Context: Helpful

Aid

Crosswords: Helpful

Modern Usage: Helpful

Screenplays

Lyrics

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Helpful

Books

Image Slideshow: Helpful

Computer Images:Helpful

Photo Album: Helpful

Digital Photo Gallery: Helpful

Familiar Quotations: Helpful

George Eliot

Publilius Syrus

Non-Fiction Usage: Helpful

Spoken Usage: Helpful

Jack Lemmon

Jodie Foster

Laura Schlessinger

Speeches: Helpful

William H. Taft

Calvin Coolidge

Lyndon B. Johnson

Usage Frequency: Helpful

Expressions: Helpful

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Helpful

Modern Translation: Helpful

Afrikaans

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Dutch

Esperanto

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Indonesian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Korean

Manx

Norwegian

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Portuguese Brazilian

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Turkmen

Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Ancestral Language Translations: Helpful

Derivations & Misspellings: Helpful

Derivations

Misspellings

Rhyming with "Helpful"

Anagrams: Helpful

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

INDEX

Computer Images:
Helpful