public utility

noun

: a business organization (such as an electric company) performing a public service and subject to special governmental regulation

Examples of public utility in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

So far, Sharma said, $350 million of private investment has gone into the project, including covering the cost of public utilities like electricity and natural gas lines. — Dylan Lysen june 30, Kansas City Star, 30 June 2026

The registry is a free public utility tool that lets people create a record of how their name and likeness may be used by AI. — Corbin Bolies, Variety, 29 June 2026

These water-rich Oregonians live in the Central Oregon Irrigation District, a quasi-municipal corporation — part public utility, part homeowners association — that manages and distributes the lion’s share of the Deschutes’ water. — Emily Cureton Cook, ProPublica, 26 June 2026

Three years after a civil grand jury found a public utility was not charging a country club enough for water, the utility is still doing so, a new report found. — Theresa Clift, Sacbee.com, 26 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1895, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for public utility

• acceptability
• accessibility
• adaptability
• admissibility
• advisability
• affordability
• allowability
• amenability
• amiability
• appealability
• applicability
• availability

Kids Definition

public utility

noun

: a business organization performing a public service and subject to special governmental regulation

Legal Definition

public utility

noun

: a business organization (as an electric company) performing a public service and subject to special government regulation