utility

English

Etymology

From Old French utilitet (“usefulness”) (Modern French utilité), ultimately from Latin uti (“to use, enjoy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /juːˈtɪl.ɪ.ti/
• Rhymes: -ɪlɪti

Noun

utility (countable and uncountable, plural utilities)

1. The state or condition of being useful; usefulness.
   • 1818, Jane Austen, Persuasion, Chapter III:

     "The profession has its utility, but I should be sorry to see any friend of mine belonging to it."

2. Something that is useful.
3. (economics) The ability of a commodity to satisfy needs or wants; the satisfaction experienced by the consumer of that commodity.
4. (philosophy) Well-being, satisfaction, pleasure, or happiness.
5. (business, finance) A service provider, such as an electric company or water company; or, the securities of such a provider.
6. (computing) A software program designed to perform a single task or a small range of tasks, often to help manage and tune computer hardware, an operating system or application software.

   I've bought a new disk utility that can recover deleted files.

7. (sports) The ability to play multiple positions.

Antonyms

• disutility
• inutility

Derived terms

• beautility
• multiutility
• utilitarian

Adjective

utility

1. Having to do with, or owned by, a service provider.

   utility line; utility bill

2. Designating of a room in a house or building where mechanical equipment is installed; such as a furnace, water tank/heater, circuit breaker, and/or air conditioning unit; and often equipped with hookups for laundry equipment (washer/dryer).

   utility room

Synonyms

• (state of being useful): usefulness, note
• See also Wikisaurus:utility

Translations

state or condition of being useful

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 效用 (zh) (xiàoyòng), 用處 (zh), 用处 (zh) (yòngchu)

• Czech: užitečnost f
• Dutch: bruikbaarheid (nl) f, handigheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: utileco
• Estonian: kasulikkus
• Finnish: hyödyllisyys (fi)
• French: utilité (fr) f
• Galician: utilidade (gl) f
• Georgian: მნიშვნელოვნება (mnišvnelovneba), მნიშვნელობა (mnišvneloba)
• German: Nützlichkeit (de) f

• Italian: utilità (it) f
• Japanese: 有用性 (ゆうようせい, yūyōsei), 効用 (ja) (こうよう, kōyō)
• Polish: użyteczność (pl) f
• Portuguese: utilidade (pt) f
• Romanian: utilitate (ro), folos (ro)
• Russian: поле́зность (ru) f (poléznostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: math m
• Slovak: úžitok m
• Spanish: utilidad (es) f
• Swedish: användbarhet (sv) c

something that is useful

• Dutch: hulpmiddel (nl) n, handigs (nl)
• Finnish: hyödyke, hyötytavara, hyötyesine; työkalu, apuväline
• French: utilitaire (fr) m
• Italian: attrezzo (it) m, strumento (it) m
• Japanese: 実用品 (じつようひん, jitsuyōhin)
• Polish: użyteczność (pl) f

• Portuguese: utilidade (pt) f
• Russian: поле́зная вещь f (poléznaja veščʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: math m
• Spanish: conveniencia f
• Swedish: användbar (sv) (adjective)

economics: ability of a commodity to satisfy needs or wants

• Czech: užitek m
• Dutch: bruikbaarheid (nl) f

• Swedish: användbarhet (sv) c, lönsamhet (sv) c
• Tagalog: dahat

business: service provider

• Dutch: voorziening (nl) f
• Finnish: hyödyke (fi), palvelu (fi)
• Italian: fornitore (it) m, servizio (it) m

• Spanish: proveedor de servicios
• Swedish: leverantör (sv) c, tjänsteleverantör c, specific public utilities: vattenverk n, kraftverk (sv) n, värmeverk n and other compounds with verk (sv) n

computing: software program with specific task

• Dutch: hulpmiddel (nl) n, hulpprogramma n
• Japanese: ユーティリティ (yūtiriti)
• Polish: program użytkowy m

• Russian: обслу́живающая програ́мма f (obslúživajuščaja prográmma), утили́та (ru) f (utilíta)
• Swedish: tillämpning (sv) c, applikation (sv) c, verktyg (sv) n