Word family noun usage use disuse misuse reuse usefulness ≠ uselessness user adjective reusable used ≠ unused disused useful ≠ useless usable ≠ unusable verb use misuse reuse adverb usefully ≠ uselessly
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishusefulnessuse‧ful‧ness /ˈjuːsfəlnəs/ ●○○ noun [uncountable] USEFULthe state of being useful or the degree to which something is usefulusefulness of There are doubts as to the usefulness of this approach (=it may not be useful). As a commuter service, the ferry has outlived its usefulness (=is no longer useful).Examples from the Corpus
usefulness• We are beginning to think that this factory has outlived its usefulness as our main supplier.• Yet, as education began to spread, women all over questioned its usefulness and validity.• Its usefulness overstated, its flexibility limited, it may even increase teacher workload, despite claims to the contrary.• The Internet has a wealth of information for gardeners, but in widely varying degrees of usefulness.• But then at Boots we pride ourselves on our usefulness to mums.• The test's usefulness in measuring intelligence is limited.• Statistics have some usefulness in the study of public health issues.• The answer lies in the usefulness of the belief to the individual members.outlived ... usefulness• Daniels said a number of programs that were being recommended for elimination had outlived their usefulness while others had never been successful.• In order to enhance his credibility Fedora was allowed to expose John Vassall who by then had outlived his usefulness.• Even the message on the answering machine has outlived its usefulness, providing no current or future information.• It also includes discouraging cultural traits that have outlived their usefulness and may be otherwise harmful to society.• And when they have outlived their usefulness, they are slaughtered or sold cheaply for lab experiments.• By contrast, the over-hyped Times Guide to 1992 now seems to have outlived its usefulness.• I question, personally, whether these inspectors have not outlived their usefulness. 