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Useful vs Application - What's the difference?

useful | application |

As an adjective useful

is having a practical or beneficial use.

As a noun application is

the act of applying or laying on, in a literal sense; as, the application of emollients to a diseased limb.

useful

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having a practical or beneficial use.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston, magazine=(American Scientist)
    • , title= The Adaptable Gas Turbine , passage=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.}}

    Usage notes

    * Prepositions: useful'' is used in ''useful for '', ''useful for '' and ''useful to ''. 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.

    Synonyms

    * noteful * serviceable * utilitarian

    Antonyms

    * unuseful * useless * harmful

    Related terms

    * usefully * usefulness

    application

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of applying or laying on, in a literal sense; as, the application of emollients to a diseased limb.
  • The thing applied.
  • * Johnson
    • He invented a new application by which blood might be stanched.
  • * 1857 , John Eadie, ?John Francis Waller, ?William John Macquorn Rankine, The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography
    • His body was stripped, laid out upon a table, and covered with a hearsecloth, when some of his attendants perceived symptoms of returning animation, and by the use of warm applications , internal and external, gradually restored him to life.
  • The act of applying as a means; the employment of means to accomplish an end; specific use.
  • * (John Locke)
    • If a right course be taken with children, there will not be much need of the application of the common rewards and punishments.
  • The act of directing or referring something to a particular case, to discover or illustrate agreement or disagreement, fitness, or correspondence.
    • I make the remark, and leave you to make the '''application .
    The application of a theory to a set of data can be challenging.
  • (computing) A computer program or the set of software that the end user perceives as a single entity as a tool for a well-defined purpose. (Also called: application program; application software.)
    • This iPhone application can connect to most social networks.
  • A verbal or written request for assistance or employment or admission to a school.
    • December 31 is the deadline for MBA applications .
  • (bureaucracy, legal) A petition, entreaty, or other request.
    • Their application for a deferral of the hearing was granted.

    Hyponyms

    * See also

    Synonyms

    * (computer software) software, program

    References

    * WordNet 3.0 [http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=application]. ----