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44 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]


  Utility \U*til"i*ty\, n. [OE. utilite, F. utilit['e], L.
     utilitas, fr. utilis useful. See Utile.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The quality or state of being useful; usefulness;
        production of good; profitableness to some valuable end;
        as, the utility of manure upon land; the utility of the
        sciences; the utility of medicines.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The utility of the enterprises was, however, so
              great and obvious that all opposition proved
              useless.                              --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Polit. Econ.) Adaptation to satisfy the desires or wants;
        intrinsic value. See Note under Value, 2.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Value in use is utility, and nothing else, and in
              political economy should be called by that name and
              no other.                             --F. A.
                                                    Walker.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Happiness; the greatest good, or happiness, of the
        greatest number, -- the foundation of utilitarianism. --J.
        S. Mill.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Usefulness; advantageous; benefit; profit; avail;
          service.
  
     Usage: Utility, Usefulness. Usefulness has an Anglo-Saxon
            prefix, utility is Latin; and hence the former is used
            chiefly of things in the concrete, while the latter is
            employed more in a general and abstract sense. Thus,
            we speak of the utility of an invention, and the
            usefulness of the thing invented; of the utility of an
            institution, and the usefulness of an individual. So
            beauty and utility (not usefulness) are brought into
            comparison. Still, the words are often used
            interchangeably.
            [1913 Webster]

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) : [ web1913 ]


  Utility \U*til"i*ty\, n. [OE. utilite, F. utilit['e], L.
     utilitas, fr. utilis useful. See Utile.]
     1. The quality or state of being useful; usefulness;
        production of good; profitableness to some valuable end;
        as, the utility of manure upon land; the utility of the
        sciences; the utility of medicines.
  
              The utility of the enterprises was, however, so
              great and obvious that all opposition proved
              useless.                              --Macaulay.
  
     2. (Polit. Econ.) Adaptation to satisfy the desires or wants;
        intrinsic value. See Note under Value, 2.
  
              Value in use is utility, and nothing else, and in
              political economy should be called by that name and
              no other.                             --F. A.
                                                    Walker.
  
     3. Happiness; the greatest good, or happiness, of the
        greatest number, -- the foundation of utilitarianism. --J.
        S. Mill.
  
     Syn: Usefulness; advantageous; benefit; profit; avail;
          service.
  
     Usage: Utility, Usefulness. Usefulness has an Anglo-Saxon
            prefix, utility is Latin; and hence the former is used
            chiefly of things in the concrete, while the latter is
            employed more in a general and abstract sense. Thus,
            we speak of the utility of an invention, and the
            usefulness of the thing invented; of the utility of an
            institution, and the usefulness of an individual. So
            beauty and utility (not usefulness) are brought into
            comparison. Still, the words are often used
            interchangeably.

From WordNet (r) 2.0 : [ wn ]


  utility
       adj 1: used of beef; usable but inferior [syn: utility(a), utility-grade]
       2: capable of substituting in any of several positions on a
          team; "a utility infielder" [syn: utility(a), substitute(a)]
       n 1: a company that performs a public service; subject to
            government regulation [syn: public utility, public-service
            corporation]
       2: the quality of being of practical use [syn: usefulness]
          [ant: inutility, inutility]
       3: the service provided by a utility company; "the cost of
          utilities never decreases"
       4: (economics) a measure that is to be maximized in any
          situation involving choice
       5: (computer science) a program designed for general support of
          the processes of a computer; "a computer system provides
          utility programs to perform the tasks needed by most
          users" [syn: utility program, service program]
       6: a facility composed of one or more pieces of equipment
          connected to or part of a structure and designed to
          provide a service such as heat or electricity or water or
          sewage disposal; "the price of the house included all
          utilities"

From Greek Wiktionary: All languages (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-el-ALL-2023-07-27 ]


  utility
     Αγγλικά n.
     1 η χρησιμότητα
     2 κάτι χρήσιμος
     3 οργανισμός κοινή ωφέλεια
     4 (ετ πληροφ en) βοηθητικό πρόγραμμα που κάνει κάτι συγκεκριμένο
  σχετικά με τη διατήρηση σε καλή κατάσταση του λειτουργικό σύστημα ή
  οποιουδήποτε πολύπλοκου λογισμικό

From English Wiktionary: All languages (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-ALL-2023-07-27 ]


  utility
     Spanish n.
     (lb es sports) (l en utility)

From English Wiktionary: English language only (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-en-2023-07-27 ]


  utility
     a.
     1 Having to do with, or owned by, a service provider.
     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.
     3 Functional rather than attractive.
     n.
     1 The state or condition of being useful; usefulness.
     2 Something that is useful.
     3 (lb en economics) The ability of a commodity to satisfy needs or
  wants; the satisfaction experienced by the consumer of that commodity.
     4 (lb en philosophy) well-being, satisfaction, pleasure, or
  happiness.
     5 (lb en business finance) A natural or legal monopoly distributer of
  a commodity or service, delivered in continuous flows to multiple
  consumers from a common physical, infrastructural network, such as an
  electric company or water company; ''or'', the security of such a
  provider.
     6 (lb en 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.

From English Wiktionary: Western, Greek, and Slavonic languages only (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-Western_Greek_Slavonic-2023-07-27 ]


  utility
     Spanish n.
     (lb es sports) (l en utility)

From English Wiktionary: Western languages only (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-Western-2023-07-27 ]


  utility
     Spanish n.
     (lb es sports) (l en utility)

From Finnish Wiktionary: All languages (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-fi-ALL-2023-07-27 ]


  utility
     Englanti a.
     hyöty-, käyttö-, yleis-
     Englanti n.
     1 hyöty, hyödyllisyys
     2 käyttökelpoisuus
     3 yleishyödyllinen yhtiö; sähkö-, vesilaitos tai vastaava; sähkö,
  vesi jms.
     4 (yhteys taloustiede k=en) hyöty
     5 (yhteys tilastotiede k=en) utiliteetti
     6 työkalu, apuväline
     7 (''ajoneuvotyypeistä'') hyötyajoneuvoa tarkoittava

From Swedish Wiktionary: All languages (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-sv-ALL-2023-07-27 ]


  utility
     Engelska a.
     nytta, bruk, funktionell, praktisk
     Engelska n.
     1 nytta, användbarhet
     2 allmän nyttighet, samhällsservice

From English-Arabic FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.6.3 : [ freedict:eng-ara ]


  Utility /juːtˈɪlɪti/
  منفعة

From English-български език FreeDict+WikDict dictionary ver. 2023.05.29 : [ freedict:eng-bul ]


  utility //juːˈtɪ.lɪ.ti// //jəˈtɪ.lɪ.ti// 
  полза
  state or condition of being useful