different between expend vs utilise

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin expend? (“I weigh; I pay out”). Doublet of spend.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?sp?nd/, /?k?sp?nd/
• Rhymes: -?nd

Verb

expend (third-person singular simple present expends, present participle expending, simple past and past participle expended)

1. (transitive) to consume, exhaust (some resource)
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, King Henry VI Part 2, act 3, scene 1:

     If my death might make this island happy […]

     I would expend it with all willingness.

2. (transitive, rare, of money) to spend, disburse

Related terms

• expenditure
• expense
• expensive

Translations

See also

• expent

English

Alternative forms

• utilize (American, Canadian, Oxford British spelling)

Etymology

From French utiliser, from Italian utilizzare, from utile (“useful”), from Latin ?tilis, from ?t? (“use”). Attested c. 1810.

Verb

utilise (third-person singular simple present utilises, present participle utilising, simple past and past participle utilised)

1. To make use of; to use.
2. To make useful; to find a practical use for.
3. To make best use of; to use to its fullest extent, potential, or ability.
4. To make do with; to use in manner different from that originally intended

Usage notes

Many style guides have advised against utilize and utilise, arguing that the simpler verb use is always preferable (and analogously, that the noun use is preferable to utilization and utilisation). When used simply as a synonym in ordinary writing (as in “please utilise the rear door when exiting the aircraft”) it can strike readers as pretentious, and so should be used sparingly. American novelist David Foster Wallace calls it a puff word. Op-ed editor of The Los Angeles Time Juliet Lapidos "There are many bad words in English, but only one worst word. That word is utilize" . Another writer Stephen Heard asserts "there is never any good reason to use the word “utilize”" and provides extensive arguments against any utilisation especially in scientific writing .

It does not follow that because some speakers eschew a particular usage, it must be everywhere redundant. Utilise is suited to senses in which use would require circumlocution. Examples of such senses include “put to use”, as in “...utilise the production capacities of the local industries fully before ordering from foreign industries.” “exploit or consume”, as in “...utilise the support that the system provides, such as by making the most of tax exemptions and special supplies.” or “make best use of” (profitable, practical use, not just general use), as in “...farmers must utilise their land fully to boost food security”. Further, in American usage, utilize can imply use outside an object’s intended purpose, as in “...our airmen utilized damaged drop tanks in the field, cutting them open for bathtubs”.

Synonyms

• employ
• exploit
• use

Derived terms

• utilisation
• utilisable
• utiliser

Translations

References

French

Verb

utilise

1. first-person singular present indicative of utiliser
2. third-person singular present indicative of utiliser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of utiliser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of utiliser
5. second-person singular imperative of utiliser