UTILITY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Utility

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/jutˈɪləti/ Listen

noun

Utility n.

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 medicines. "The utility of the enterprises was, however, so great and obvious that all opposition proved useless."

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."

3.

Happiness; the greatest good, or happiness, of the greatest number, the foundation of utilitarianism.

Synonyms: 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.

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Etymology of 'Utility'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Utility" Quotes from Famous Books

... this power which is exerted in the application of the laws, it may be observed that much of it would be superseded. As laws, being but the expression of the general will, would be enacted only from an almost universal conviction of their utility, any resistance to such laws, any desire of eluding them, must proceed from a few refractory individuals. As far, then, as relates to the internal administration of the country, a Republic has a manifest advantage over a Monarchy, ...

— The Prose Works of William Wordsworth • William Wordsworth

... the harvester, as a worker of vital utility to the country, enjoyed a degree of exemption accorded to few. Impress officers had particular instructions concerning him. They were to delete him from the category of those who might be taken. Armed with a certificate from the minister ...

— The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore • John R. Hutchinson

... disclosed that the new head had a mania for general information. He had doubts about the utility of examinations on subjects which had been crammed for the occasion. He wanted ...

— Of Human Bondage • W. Somerset Maugham

... fide painter is a rarity in the town I am describing, so Nicasio and I are comparatively alone in the fine art field. Our patrons are numerous, but we are expected by them to be as versatile as the 'general utility' of theatrical life. ...

— The Pearl of the Antilles, or An Artist in Cuba • Walter Goodman

... in which the birth and rearing of children has not been the essential function of the family. From a sociological point of view the childless family is a failure. While the childless family may be of social utility to the individuals that form it, nevertheless from the point of view of society such a family has failed to perform its most important function and must be considered, ...

— Sociology and Modern Social Problems • Charles A. Ellwood

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