utility

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /juːˈtɪ.lɪ.ti/, /jəˈtɪ.lɪ.ti/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlɪti

Noun

utility (countable and uncountable, plural utilities)

1. The state or condition of being useful; usefulness.
   • 1817 December​, [Jane Austen], “III”, in Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 1818, OCLC 318384910:

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

2. Something that is useful.
   • 1945 November and December, H. C. Casserley, “Random Reflections on British Locomotive Types—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 320:

     Undoubtedly it can be said that the humble 0-6-0 has been the backbone for general service, or general utility on British railways right from their earliest days, and is likely to remain so.

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 natural or legal areal monopoly distributer of a commodity (less often a service) delivered in continuous flows to multiple consumers from a common physical, infrastructural network, 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.

   • 1982, InfoWorld (volume 4, number 10, page 35)

     The system includes an 8080 and a Z80 assembler, a Tektronix format downloader and other utilities.

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

Antonyms

• disutility
• inutility

Derived terms

• beautility
• multiutility
• utilitarian

Translations

state or condition of being useful

• Bulgarian: полза (bg) f (polza)
• Catalan: utilitat f
• 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
• Hungarian: haszon (hu), hasznosság (hu), hasznavehetőség
• Italian: utilità (it) f
• Japanese: 有用 (ja) (ゆうよう, yūyō), 有用性 (ゆうようせい, yūyōsei), 効用 (ja) (こうよう, kōyō)
• Latin: utilitas f
• Middle English: utilite
• Occitan: utilitat (oc) f
• 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 (fi)
• French: utilitaire (fr) m
• Hungarian: eszköz (hu)
• 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 (es) f
• Swedish: användbar (sv) (adjective)

economics: ability of a commodity to satisfy needs or wants

• Czech: užitek (cs) m
• Dutch: bruikbaarheid (nl) f
• Finnish: käyttöarvo, utiliteetti
• Hungarian: hasznosság (hu)
• Swedish: användbarhet (sv) c, lönsamhet (sv) c
• Tagalog: dahat

philosophy: well-being, satisfaction, pleasure

business: areal monopoly provider

• Dutch: voorziening (nl) f
• Finnish: -laitos (fi) (e.g. sähkölaitos - electric utility)
• Hungarian: szolgáltató (hu), közmű, -művek (hu), közüzem (hu), közüzemi szolgáltató, (household utility costs) rezsi (hu), (their securities) közműrészvény
• Italian: fornitore (it) m, servizio (it) m
• Spanish: proveedor de servicios
• Swedish: leverantör (sv) c, tjänsteleverantör c, specific public utilities: vattenverk (sv) n, kraftverk (sv) n, värmeverk n and other compounds with verk (sv) n

computing: software program with specific task

• Dutch: hulpmiddel (nl) n, hulpprogramma (nl) n
• Finnish: apuohjelma
• Hungarian: segédprogram
• 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

sports: ability to play multiple positions

• Finnish: monipuolisuus (fi)

Adjective

utility

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

   utility line; utility bill

2. (Of a building or its components) containing or intended for any of a building’s often-utility-related commodity transport, such as pipes or wires, or converting equipment, such as furnaces, water tanks or heaters, circuit breakers, central air conditioning units, laundry facilities, etc.

   utility room; utility corridor

3. Functional rather than attractive.
   • 1943 March and April, “G.W.R. Rolling Stock Colours”, in Railway Magazine, page 106:

     "Chocolate and cream," the standard colours of G.W.R. rolling stock for 21 years, are now being replaced by an all-over utility coating of reddish-brown. This is the third time that a uniform brown has been adopted as the standard livery of G.W.R. carriages.

Synonyms

• (state of being useful): usefulness, value, advantages, benefit, return, merits, virtue, note
• See also Thesaurus:utility

References

• “utility”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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Spanish

Noun

utility m (plural utilitys)

1. (sports) utility