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Glite Dictionary
to serve in good stead

to serve in good stead

7.0
To be useful to someone in the future
  • idiom
translation icon : ser útil
  • The skills you learn today will serve you in good stead throughout your career.

Examples

  • Years of hard work and dedication served him in good stead during the crisis.

  • Her fluent Spanish will serve in good stead when she travels through South America.

  • This experience will serve in good stead for your future career.

  • Having a strong network can serve in good stead during job searches.

  • Her fluent Spanish will serve in good stead when she travels through South America.

  • The skills you learn today will serve you in good stead throughout your career.

  • Having a strong network can serve in good stead during job searches.

Synonyms

to serve
vsto serve in good stead
∞ 1.8

To be used for a specific purpose or to help achieve something

focuses on future benefit rather than general functional use
to come in handy
vsto serve in good stead
79 2.8

To be useful in a certain situation

suggests usefulness later or over time rather than immediate convenience
to serve well
vsto serve in good stead
3 3.5

Be useful to someone when they need it

emphasizes usefulness in future situations rather than immediate benefit
to stand someone in good stead
vsto serve in good stead
1 6.0

To help someone later in life or work

has identical meaning but uses a different verb phrase

Antonyms

to harm
738 1.0

To cause a bad effect on people or things

to disadvantage
18 4.7

To make someone or something less able to succeed than others

How Useful

to serve in good stead
7.0
to benefit
676 2.3

Surface Forms

serve in good stead infinitive
served in good stead past
served in good stead past participle
serving in good stead present participle
serves in good stead third person singular

Morphology

serve + in + good + stead

The verb 'serve' plus adjective 'good' points toward usefulness, so part of the meaning ('be useful/beneficial') is recoverable from the constituents. However, 'stead' is archaic/rare and the fixed phrase 'in good stead' is idiomatic, so the full sense depends on knowing that noun or prior exposure, making the expression only partially predictable.

Etymology

Serve in good stead may come from an old word, stead, meaning a 'place' or a 'help', so if something serves you in a good stead it is kept where it can help you later. That's why the phrase means 'to be useful or helpful in the future'.