Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a useful manner; profitably; beneficially; in such a manner as to effect or advance some end.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In a useful manner.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb In a useful manner; in a way that achieves something

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb in a useful manner

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

useful +‎ -ly

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Examples

  • Those who enjoy the show inhabit that world, and presumably wish to continue living there, and thus the mockery of its manifestations and assumptions remain usefully "corrective," reminding them that it can all be quite ridiculous.

    Art and Culture 2010

  • Long empty streets, red, orange, golden leaves, sunlight and moonlight almost become actors in usefully letting the Halloween (the holiday) feel be so present.

    Scores & Soundtracks: Halloween & A Nightmare on Elm Street 2008

  • The frieze, too, affords a means of contrast in line to the line system of the field of the wall, its horizontal expression usefully opposing the verticals or diagonals of the wall pattern below.

    Line and Form (1900) Walter Crane 1880

  • Never mind, I'm sure it kept a number of civil servants "usefully" employed for a few years.

    Archive 2008-03-01 Not a sheep 2008

  • A second reason for the shortfall in our nation’s intellectual resources is what Thomson, as good a guide as one could have along the march to folly, called “the effectiveness trap,” a phrase that usefully defines the reluctance to depart further from the mainstream of discussion than is considered appropriate.

    Magic and Mayhem Derek Leebaert 2010

  • The sum of £113 million, you see - even if shared among a small syndicate - isn't the kind of usefully sensible amount that could pay for a kitchen extension or a nice car: it's a proper, gigantic explosion of silly money, catapulting its gob-smacked winner or winners into the rarefied world of the international super-rich.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2010

  • The sum of £113 million, you see - even if shared among a small syndicate - isn't the kind of usefully sensible amount that could pay for a kitchen extension or a nice car: it's a proper, gigantic explosion of silly money, catapulting its gob-smacked winner or winners into the rarefied world of the international super-rich.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2010

  • The situation, though, is not hopeless, as American religion can be usefully analyzed using a taxonomic system that, to paraphrase Albert Einstein, is as simple as possible, but no simpler.

    American Grace Robert D. Putnam 2010

  • Although historic and historical have some overlap in meaning, they are usefully differentiated.

    June « 2009 « Sentence first 2009

  • Although historic and historical have some overlap in meaning, they are usefully differentiated.

    Historic, historical: usage and advice 2009

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