Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Utility
1.
The quality or state of being useful; usefulness; production of good; profitableness to some valuable end;
as, the
. utility
of manure upon land; the utility
of the sciences; the utility
of medicinesThe
utility
of the enterprises was, however, so great and obvious that all opposition proved useless. Macaulay.
2.
(Polit. Econ.)
Adaptation to satisfy the desires or wants; intrinsic value. See Note under
Value
, 2. Value in use is
utility
, and nothing else, and in political economy should be called by that name and no other. F. A. Walker.
3.
Happiness; the greatest good, or happiness, of the greatest number, – the foundation of utilitarianism.
J. S. Mill.
Syn. – Usefulness; advantageous; benefit; profit; avail; service.
–
Utility
, Usefulness
. Usefulness has an Anglo-Saxon prefix, utility is Latin; and hence the former is used chiefly of things in the concrete, while the latter is employed more in a general and abstract sense. Thus, we speak of the utility of an invention, and the usefulness of the thing invented; of the utility of an institution, and the usefulness of an individual. So beauty and utility (not usefulness) are brought into comparison. Still, the words are often used interchangeably. Webster 1828 Edition
Utility
UTIL'ITY
,Noun.
Usefulness; production of good; profitableness to some valuable end; as the utility of manures upon land; the utility of the sciences; the utility of medicines.
Definition 2024
utility
utility
English
Noun
utility (plural utilities)
- The state or condition of being useful; usefulness.
- Something that is useful.
- (economics) The ability of a commodity to satisfy needs or wants; the satisfaction experienced by the consumer of that commodity.
- (philosophy) Well-being, satisfaction, pleasure, or happiness.
- (business, finance) A service provider, such as an electric company or water company; or, the securities of such a provider.
- (computing) A software program designed to perform a single task or a small range of tasks, often to help manage and tune computer hardware, an operating system or application software.
- I've bought a new disk utility that can recover deleted files.
- (sports) The ability to play multiple positions.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Adjective
utility
- Having to do with, or owned by, a service provider.
- utility line; utility bill
- Designating of a room in a house or building where mechanical equipment is installed; such as a furnace, water tank/heater, circuit breaker, and/or air conditioning unit; and often equipped with hookups for laundry equipment (washer/dryer).
- utility room
Synonyms
- (state of being useful): usefulness, note
- See also Wikisaurus:utility
Translations
state or condition of being useful
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something that is useful
economics: ability of a commodity to satisfy needs or wants
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business: service provider
computing: software program with specific task
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