utilitarian

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Designed to be useful and practical rather than attractive.

   The kitchen was plain and utilitarian, with no decoration at all.

2. 2
   noun

   A person who believes that actions are right if they bring the greatest good to the most people.

   As a utilitarian, he judged every choice by how much happiness it created.

From utility + -arian. Coined by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham as early as 1781, and popularized by his student John Stuart Mill, who mistakenly attributed the term to John Galt.

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