beneficial

English

Etymology

From Late Latin beneficiālis (“beneficial”), from Latin beneficium (“benefit, favor, kindness”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: bĕnəfĭsh'əl, IPA^(key): /ˌbɛnəˈfɪʃəl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃəl

Adjective

beneficial (comparative more beneficial, superlative most beneficial)

1. Helpful or good to something or someone.

   Recycling and reusing garbage can be beneficial to the environment.

   • 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:

     Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.

2. Relating to a benefice.

Synonyms

• (helpful or good): advantageous, behooveful (archaic), helpful, useful
• (relating to a benefice): usufructuary, usufructuous

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “doing harm to someone”): detrimental, maleficial, nocuous, damaging, harmful
• (antonym(s) of “doing neither good nor harm”): innocuous, undamaging, harmless

Derived terms

• beneficialness
• beneficial insect
• beneficial owner

Translations

Noun

beneficial (plural beneficials)

1. Something that provides a benefit.
   • 1997, Insect Control Guide, volume 9, Meister Publishing, page 29:

     Daytime temperatures may be too hot for just-released beneficials, and birds and other predators are out in full force during the day.

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin beneficiālis

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Adjective

beneficial m or f (masculine and feminine plural beneficials)

1. (relational) of a benefice

Related terms

• benefici
• beneficiar

Further reading

• “beneficial” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.