utility.

1. Usefulness or practical benefit.

2. A service such as water or electricity, or an organization supplying it.

3. In economics, the satisfaction or preference value associated with goods, services, or outcomes.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• practical utility
• marginal utility
• public utility

On the page

The model has limited practical utility when the required data are unavailable.

The theory assumes that consumers choose bundles that increase their utility.

A public utility repaired the damaged water main.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic. Economic utility is an analytical concept, not necessarily moral worth or measurable happiness. General usefulness and public utilities are separate senses. Utilities is the count plural. Usefulness and economic-satisfaction senses usually uncountable. Service or supplier sense: singular utility; plural utilities. Derived family (not inflections): utilitarian.