utility

¹util·i·ty

noun \yü-ˈti-lə-tē\

plural util·i·ties

Definition of UTILITY

1

: fitness for some purpose or worth to some end

2

: something useful or designed for use

3

a : public utility b (1) : a service (as light, power, or water) provided by a public utility (2) : equipment or a piece of equipment to provide such service or a comparable service

4

: a program or routine designed to perform or facilitate especially routine operations (as copying files or editing text) on a computer

Examples of UTILITY

1. a plan without much practical utility
2. Notify the utility if there's an outage.

Origin of UTILITY

Middle English utilite, from Anglo-French utilité, from Latin utilitat, utilitas, from utilis useful, from uti to use

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to UTILITY

Synonyms: account, avail, mileage, service, serviceability, serviceableness, usefulness, use

Antonyms: uselessness, worthlessness

Related Words: advantage, benefit, gain; aid, assistance, help; applicability, appropriateness, fitness, relevance; profit, value, worth

Near Antonyms: inapplicability, inappropriateness

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Rhymes with UTILITY

ability, agility, anility, civility, debility, docility, ductility, facility, fertility, fragility, futility, gentility, gracility, hostility, humility, lability, mobility, motility, nobility, nubility, scurrility, sectility, servility, stability, sterility, suability, tactility, vagility, virility