Unhelpful

/ʌnˈhɛlpfəl/

Meaning & Definition

adjective

Not providing assistance or support; not helpful.

His advice was unhelpful and didn't address the problem at all.

Causing more confusion or difficulty rather than resolving issues.

The instructions for assembling the furniture were unhelpful and led to more mistakes.

Lacking in usefulness or value in a given context.

The unhelpful feedback from my peers made it difficult to improve my project.

Failing to serve a useful purpose.

The unhelpful comments during the meeting wasted everyone's time.

The prefix 'un-' meaning 'not' combined with 'helpful', originating from the Middle English 'helpful'

not helpful at all

completely without assistance or value

barking up the wrong tree

pursuing the wrong course of action

a dead end

a situation that offers no hope of progress

help

to provide assistance or support

assistance

the action of helping someone with a task

supportive

providing encouragement or support

a waste of time

That meeting was a total waste of time; it was completely unhelpful.

fluff

All that talk was just fluff; it didn’t contribute anything useful.