utility

C1 Topic:Economics & Markets

US /juˈtɪl.ə.ti/ UK /juːˈtɪl.ɪ.ti/ See IPA manual

Freq #14858

Meanings

1

noun
A basic public service such as electricity, gas, or water supplied to homes and businesses.

Our rent includes all utilities like water and electricity.
2

noun
The quality of being useful or practical.

Engineers questioned the utility of the expensive new design.
3

noun
A small computer program that helps run or maintain a system.

She downloaded a utility to clean up her hard drive.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a basic public service such... service

2 noun · the quality of being useful... usefulness value

3 noun · a small computer program... utility program

Opposites

disutilityinutility

Word family

Forms utilities

Derived forms beautilitymultiutilityutilitarian

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

marginal utility
the additional benefit obtained from one more unit of a good or service

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English utilite, from Old French utilite, utilitet (“usefulness”), from Latin ūtilitās, from uti (“to use”). By surface analysis, utile + -ity.

utilite Middle English ūtilitās Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Economics & Markets Materials & Substances Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# utility

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /juˈtɪl.ə.ti/
**IPA (UK):** /juːˈtɪl.ɪ.ti/
**Frequency rank:** 14858

## Meanings
1. A basic public service such as electricity, gas, or water supplied to homes and businesses.
2. The quality of being useful or practical.
3. A small computer program that helps run or maintain a system.

## Examples
- Our rent includes all utilities like water and electricity.
- Engineers questioned the utility of the expensive new design.
- She downloaded a utility to clean up her hard drive.

## Synonyms
- usefulness
- value

## Antonyms
- disutility
- inutility

## Derived Forms
- beautility
- multiutility
- utilitarian

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: utilite
- Root: ūtilitās

## Etymology
From Middle English utilite, from Old French utilite, utilitet (“usefulness”), from Latin ūtilitās, from uti (“to use”). By surface analysis, utile + -ity.

## AI Etymology
Utility is from Middle English utilite, from Old French utilite, utilitet (“usefulness”), from Latin ūtilitās, from uti (“to use”). By surface analysis, utile + -ity. The historical line also includes Middle English utilite, Old French utilite, Latin ūtilitās. In present-day use, it can mean a basic public service such as electricity, gas, or water supplied to homes and businesses, or the quality of being useful or practical. Derived formations include beautility, multiutility, utilitarian.

## Topics
- Economics & Markets
- Materials & Substances
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown