public utility

noun

: a business organization (such as an electric company) performing a public service and subject to special governmental regulation

Examples of public utility in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Located just south of the landmark American Brewery (the structure that looks like some fantasist vastly enlarged a cuckoo clock) this grouping of public utility structures fell on excruciatingly hard times. —Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun, 8 Feb. 2025

State and federal incentives to buy and lease EVs and install charging stations and programs by public utilities and communities have helped increase the number of electric vehicles on the roads. —Judith Kohler, The Denver Post, 22 Jan. 2025

The utility, however, has told state public utilities regulators that fire officials have not suggested its electric facilities played a part in the fire's ignition. —Andrew Blankstein, NBC News, 13 Jan. 2025

Check the agendas: Most cities, counties, public utilities and school districts post meeting agendas online. —Tasha Tsiaperas, Axios, 13 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1895, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for public utility

• acceptability
• accessibility
• adaptability
• admissibility
• advisability
• affordability
• allowability
• amenability
• amiability
• appealability
• applicability
• availability

Kids Definition

public utility

noun

: a business organization performing a public service and subject to special governmental regulation

Legal Definition

public utility

noun

: a business organization (as an electric company) performing a public service and subject to special government regulation