Utility
WordNet
noun
(1) The service (electric power or water or transportation) provided by a public utility
"The cost of utilities never decreases"
"All the utilities were lost after the hurricane"
(2) 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"
(3) The quality of being of practical use
(4) (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"
(5) A company that performs a public service; subject to government regulation
(6) (economics) a measure that is to be maximized in any situation involving choice
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From ultimately from .
Noun
- The state or condition of being useful; usefulness.
- Something that is useful.
- The ability of a commodity to satisfy needs or wants; the satisfaction experienced by the consumer of that commodity.
- A service provider, such as an electric company or water company or its securities.
- A software program specifically designed to help manage and tune the computer hardware, operating system or application software, and perform a single task or a small range of tasks; as opposed to application software which tend to be software suites.