What is the use of enums in C and C++

Enum is list of constant integer values. It can be used instead of defining constant values using #define. But other than that, I haven't found any substantial uses of enums in C and CPP. Can any one please let me know what are the exact uses of enums.

Initially I thought if we create a enum variable and assign a value which is not in the enum values, the compiler will shout. But that is not true. We can assign any value to the enum variable. I can't think of any substantial uses of enum.

Solution

Advantages over macros

Debuggers can print names for values
Your constants will be scoped (if you want, you can put them also in a namespace in C++)
The compiler can warn if you forget an enum constant in a switch
Values for the constants are automatically assigned, if you don't give explicit values
The enum type is always large enough to hold all the constants. When using #define, you have to commit to int or some typedef and ensure that all the constants fit manually