utility

1 of 2

noun

util·​i·​ty yü-ˈti-lə-tē 

plural utilities

1

: fitness for some purpose or worth to some end

2

: something useful or designed for use

3

a

: public utility

b(1)

: a service (such as light, power, or water) provided by a public utility

(2)

: equipment or a piece of equipment to provide such service or a comparable service

4

: a program or routine designed to perform or facilitate especially routine operations (such as copying files or editing text) on a computer

utility

2 of 2

adjective

1

: capable of serving as a substitute in various roles or positions

a utility infielder

2

a

: kept to provide a useful product or service rather than for show or as a pet

utility livestock

a utility dog

b

: being of a usable but inferior grade

utility beef

3

: serving primarily for utility rather than beauty : utilitarian

4

: designed or adapted for general use

a utility tool

5

: of or relating to a utility

a utility company

Synonyms

Noun

• account
• avail
• mileage
• service
• serviceability
• serviceableness
• use
• usefulness

Examples of utility in a Sentence

Noun

a plan without much practical utility

Notify the utility if there's an outage.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Investors and local utility rate-payers ended up coughing up $7.5 billion for a plant originally budgeted to cost $2.4 billion. —Erik Kobayashi-Solomon, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024

Those with incomes under $30,000 typically have just a few hundred dollars left after paying rent and utilities, compared to a few thousand dollars for middle-income people, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. —Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, 30 Oct. 2024

Adjective

With exhibition games set to begin on Saturday, Peraza and Cabrera are the current favorites to fill infield utility and super-utility roles. —Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 13 June 2024

The super-utility role seems made for him. —Evan Grant, Dallas News, 22 Mar. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English utilite, from Anglo-French utilité, from Latin utilitat, utilitas, from utilis useful, from uti to use

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1851, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing utility

• marginal utility
• public utility
• sport utility
• sport utility vehicle
• utility knife
• utility pole
• utility room
• utility token

Kids Definition

utility

1 of 2 noun

util·​i·​ty yü-ˈtil-ət-ē 

plural utilities

1

: the quality or state of being useful : usefulness

2

: something useful or designed for use

3

a

: public utility

b

: a public service (as power or water) provided by a public utility

4

: a program designed to perform or aid in especially routine actions (as copying files or editing text) on a computer

utility

2 of 2 adjective

1

: capable of serving as a substitute in various roles or positions

utility infielder

2

: being of a usable but poor quality

utility beef

3

: serving chiefly for usefulness rather than beauty : utilitarian

4

: designed for general use

utility bag

Legal Definition

utility

noun

util·​i·​ty

plural utilities

1

: fitness for some purpose or worth to some end

2

a

: public utility

b

: a service or commodity provided by a public utility

paid for rent and utilities

also : equipment or material used in providing such a service or commodity

an easement limited to purposes of travel which does not include the right to install utilities

—Ware v. Public Serv. Co., 412 A.2d 84 (1980)

3

plural : stocks or bonds of utility companies

utilities performed poorly