adj ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Contrary.
2. 2
   Providing gain; profitable.

   "How can we find gainful employment with dignity for the uneducated?"

3. 3
   Disposed to taking advantage of.
4. 4
   Troublesome; fractious; hard to handle.

Adjective

1. 1
   yielding a fair profit wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

profitableadvantageousadvantageousbanausicbeneficialbreadwinning

Antonyms

All antonyms

disadvantageousfruitlessgainlessimprofitable

Example

More examples

"How can we find gainful employment with dignity for the uneducated?"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From gain (“against, contrary”) + -ful.

Etymology 2

From gain (“profit, foredeal”) + -ful.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.