different between utility vs disutility

English

Etymology

utile +? -ity, from Old French utilitet (“usefulness”), from Latin ?tilit?s, from uti (“to use”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ju??t?l.?.ti/
• Rhymes: -?l?ti

Noun

utility (countable and uncountable, plural utilities)

1. The state or condition of being useful; usefulness.
2. Something that is useful.
3. (economics) The ability of a commodity to satisfy needs or wants; the satisfaction experienced by the consumer of that commodity.
4. (philosophy) Well-being, satisfaction, pleasure, or happiness.
5. (business, finance) A service provider, such as an electric company or water company; or, the securities of such a provider.
6. (computing) A software program designed to perform a single task or a small range of tasks, often to help manage and tune computer hardware, an operating system or application software.

   I've bought a new disk utility that can recover deleted files.

   • 1982, InfoWorld (volume 4, number 10, page 35)

     The system includes an 8080 and a Z80 assembler, a Tektronix format downloader and other utilities.

7. (sports) The ability to play multiple positions.

Antonyms

• disutility
• inutility

Derived terms

• beautility
• multiutility
• utilitarian

Translations

Adjective

utility

1. Having to do with, or owned by, a service provider.

   utility line; utility bill

2. Designating of a room in a house or building where mechanical equipment is installed; such as a furnace, water tank/heater, circuit breaker, and/or air conditioning unit; and often equipped with hookups for laundry equipment (washer/dryer).

   utility room

Synonyms

• (state of being useful): usefulness, note
• See also Thesaurus:utility

Spanish

Noun

utility m (plural utilitys)

1. (sports) utility

English

Etymology

dis- +? utility

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?d?sju??t?l?ti/

Noun

disutility (countable and uncountable, plural disutilities)

1. uselessness, a lack of utility
   • 1906, George Bernard Shaw, The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface

     Up to a certain point doctors, like carpenters and masons, must earn their living by doing the work that the public wants from them; and as it is not in the nature of things possible that such public want should be based on unmixed disutility, it may be admitted that doctors have their uses, real as well as imaginary.

2. (microeconomics) negative utility
3. (philosophy) illbeing