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utility Definition

util·ity (yo̵̅o̅ til′ə tē)

noun pl. utilities -·ties

  1. the quality or property of being useful; usefulness
  2. something useful
    1. something useful to the public, esp. the service of electric power, gas, water, telephone, etc.
    2. a company or government agency providing such a service
    3. shares of stock in such a company
  4. Econ. the power to satisfy the needs or wants of humanity

Etymology: ME utilite < OFr utilité < L utilitas < utilis, utile

adjective

  1. serving or designed for practical use with little or no attention to beauty
  2. useful or used in a number of ways
  3. ☆ designating an auxiliary player who is able to substitute at any of several positions on a baseball team a utility infielder
  4. designating or of an inferior, usually dark, coarse grade of meat, lacking fat
utility Synonyms

utility

n.

  1. Usefulness

    use, service, advantage, convenience, benefit, serviceableness, expediency, avail, profit, favor, efficacy, efficiency, adequacy, productiveness.

  2. Utility company

    gas company, electricity company, water company; see business 4, monopoly.

utility Finance Definition
A company that generates, transmits or distributes important services, such as electricity, heating oil, or natural gas that is used to heat homes and businesses. Usually state authorities are involved in regulating utilities, although in recent years there has been a movement to deregulate the electricity market. The natural gas industry is currently deregulated. On a federal level, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates approximately 200 investor-owned utilities.
utility Law Definition

n

  1. Some society-benefiting quality.
  2. The ability to form some function.
  3. A business that forms an essential public service and that is often government regulated, such as a public-service utility, electric company, and so on.
utility Telecom Definition
  1. A computer program dedicated to the management of a computer system, a utility is narrowly focused on a task such as maintaining a database, improving the efficiency of computer storage, searching for viruses, encrypting and decrypting data, and compressing and decompressing data.
  2. A company that performs or provides an essential public service, such as electric power, natural gas, sewer, telephone, or water.
utility Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • diminish: T F 8. If someone's utility function exhibits diminishing marginal utility of wealth, this person is risk averse.

Adjective modifier

  • marginal: T F 8. If someone's utility function exhibits diminishing marginal utility of wealth, this person is risk averse.
  • handy: This method is designed as a handy utility for prototyping and testing queries.
  • electric: The first full-time coordinator was an IBEW member, who worked at a local electric utility.
  • freeware: No Technical Support BlueSweep is a freeware utility, so does NOT include any technical support.

Modifies a noun

  • bill: These include a passport, utility bill or driving license.
  • room: Utility room for golf clubs, bikes etc 12.
  • computing: The concept of utility computing holds enormous appeal for potential service providers hoping to create the information technology equivalent of the electric industry.
  • vehicle: Sport utility vehicles are the primary the lawyers who.
  • maximization: We derive firms ' decisions from utility maximization by individuals.

Noun used with modifier

  • freeware: You need ' Brick for Windows ' , a stress-relieving 29KB freeware utility that places a virtual brick in your Start Bar.
  • compression: You may, ofcourse, also use WinZip, or any other compression utility to extract the contents of the file.
  • configuration: Letter Configuration Utility The letter configuration utility provides a step by step guide to adding your own letters to Gemini.
  • wastewater: New Richmond Utilities - Locally owned and operated electric, water and wastewater utility, New Richmond, Wisconsin, USA.
  • easy-to-use: AirMagnet BlueSweep is an easy-to-use freeware utility to identify and analyze any nearby Bluetooth device.
utility Quotes

The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to producethe reverse of happiness.

—Mill,John Stuart

Whoever, in the pursuit of science, seeks after immediate practical utility may rest assured that he seeks in vain.

—Helmholtz, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von

The point of equilibrium will be known by the criterion that an infinitely small amount of commodity exchanged in addition, at the same rate, will bring neither gain nor loss of utility.

—Jevons,William Stanley

The word, it is to be observed, has two different meanings, and sometimes the utility of some particular object, and sometimes the power of purchasing other goods which the possession of that object conveys. This one may be called 'value in use'; the other,'value in exchange'. The things which have the greatest value in usehave frequently little or novalue in exchange; and on the contrary, those which have the greatest value in exchange have frequently little or no value in use. Nothing is more useful than water: but it will purchase scarce any thing; scarce any thing can be had in exchange for it. A diamond, on the contrary, has scarce any value in use; but a very great quantity of other goods may frequently be had in exchange for it.

—Smith, Adam

Labour once spent has no influence on the future value of any article; it isgone and lost for ever. In commerce bygones are forever bygones; and we are alwaysstarting clearat each moment, judging the values of things with a view to future utility.

—Jevons,William Stanley