Other forms: utilities
A utility is a basic public service piped or wired to every home — water, gas or electricity. Utility bills, the utility companies, utilities included.
In the plural, utilities means those services and their bills. They are natural monopolies, since nobody builds two water networks, which is why they are regulated rather than left to competition. In economics, utility is the usefulness or satisfaction something gives, and it is the foundation of a great deal of theory. In computing, a utility is a small tool program. Note utilitarian, and utility room.
1nounutilityA basic public service supplied to every home.
“The storm cut off the utilities, leaving the town without water or power.”
synonyms: utilities
2nounusefulnessUsefulness.
“I question the utility of meetings that go on for hours.”
utility is a service or usefulness.
Also accepted in games: utilities
Latin utilitas comes from uti, to use — the same verb as use, usual and utensil. A utility is simply a usefulness, and the pipes were named after the abstraction.
Latin
ūtilitās
Old French
utilite
Middle English
utilite
English, today
utility
Built from
From Middle English utilite, from Old French utilite, utilitet (“usefulness”), from Latin ūtilitās, from uti (“to use”). by surface analysis, utile + -ity.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA