utility
217
3.3
- noun
- /juːˈtɪləti/
:
servicio público
- After the storm, many households lost utility connections, leaving them without power for days.
- electric utility
- utility bills
- public utility
The bills pile up, utilities are cut off, debts are incurred.
- The bills pile up, utilities are cut off, debts are incurred.
- Sure, we'll do some lease or mortgage interest, utilities, and that sounds good to me.
- The climate plan will reduce the cost of of utilities.
- But that's the the brittleness of a lot of our utility systems.
- So regular expenses are all the things that you normally expect, such as rent, utilities, food, groceries, gas.
- We had a customer who had a, a high-powered breaker switch, essentially it's an electric utility, Ontario power generation.
- So they use less energy, they use less water, less the utilities, they produce less waste.
- That's no gear rental, not utilities, nothing.
- And let's actually put them like right here for oil and natural gas and utilities.
Examples
-
We have teams of engineers ready to restore power and utilities.
-
Utilities are paid for, gas, electric, water.
-
No phone or utility lines coming in.
-
One wonderful example of that is in electric utilities that make decisions.
-
I can tell you for sure, your utilities are going to go up.
-
Yes, there are certainly some utilities that are better than others for sure.
-
Just have to pay the utilities, no rent.
-
What keeps the utilities from doing this?
-
Utilities are being shut down.
-
The government invested in infrastructure, such as roads and utilities, for rapidly expanding cities.
Academic text (2008)
Synonyms
8
3.2
An organization that provides essential services like water or electricity and is regulated by the government
A company that supplies water, electricity, or gas and is run under government rules
A company that provides essential services like water or electricity and must follow government rules
Compounds
- Specialized
8
3.2
An organization that provides essential services like water or electricity and is regulated by the government
- Specialized
3
7.0
Extra enjoyment you get from one more item, like a slice of pizza
- Jargon
1
4.9
A team member who can play several positions well in sports like baseball
- Specialized
1
3.8
A computer tool that does system tasks like cleaning files or scanning for viruses
- Specialized
A company that supplies water, electricity, or gas and is run under government rules
- Specialized
A loan to build public services like water or electricity paid back from the money those services earn
- Specialized
Money a government or city borrows to pay for public services like water and electricity
How Reliable
Surface Forms
Morphology
utility = use (semi-transparent) = util + ity
The sense 'public service/provider' extends from 'usefulness' to services that provide useful functions; learners can often infer the connection, but the institutional meaning is a specialized extension.
Etymology
Utility for services like water, gas, or electricity comes from the same old Latin root utilis meaning 'useful'. Because these are things people 'use' every day, they are called utilities.