utility :: Lexipedia - Where words have meaning

utility

n. 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"

utility

n. 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"

utility

n. the quality of being of practical use

public utility, public-service corporation

n. a company that performs a public service; subject to government regulation

substitute

adj. capable of substituting in any of several positions on a team; "a utility infielder"

utility-grade

adj. used of beef; usable but inferior

wear, clothing, clothes, apparel, vesture, wearing apparel

n. a covering designed to be worn on a person's body

convenience

n. the quality of being useful and convenient; "they offered the convenience of an installment plan"

value

n. the quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable; "the Shakespearean Shylock is of dubious value in the modern world"

advantage, vantage

n. the quality of having a superior or more favorable position; "the experience gave him the advantage over me"

welfare, benefit

n. something that aids or promotes well-being; "for the common good"

significance

n. the quality of being significant; "do not underestimate the significance of nuclear power"

alternative, alternate

adj. allowing a choice; "an alternative plan"

subsidiary, auxiliary, supplementary, supplemental

adj. functioning in a subsidiary or supporting capacity; "the main library and its auxiliary branches"

collateral

adj. accompany, concomitant; "collateral target damage from a bombing run"

secondhand

adj. derived from what is primary or original; not firsthand; "a secondhand report"; "a secondhand account of a memory of something once read"; "most of our knowledge is secondhand"

standby, substitute, second-string, stand-by

adj. being a replacement or substitute for a regular member of a team

tributary

adj. of a stream; flowing into a larger stream

vicarious

adj. experienced at secondhand; "read about mountain climbing and felt vicarious excitement"

bad

adj. below average in quality or performance; "a bad chess player"; "a bad recital"

base

adj. (used of metals) consisting of or alloyed with inferior metal; "base coins of aluminum"; "a base metal"

bum, punk, cheap, chintzy, tinny, sleazy, cheesy, crummy, tatty

adj. of very poor quality; flimsy

cardboard, flimsy

adj. resembling cardboard especially in flimsiness; "apartments with cardboard walls"

shoddy, cheapjack, tawdry

adj. cheap and shoddy; "cheapjack moviemaking...that feeds on the low taste of the mob"- Judith Crist

common, crude, coarse

adj. of low or inferior quality or value; "of what coarse metal ye are molded"- Shakespeare; "produced...the common cloths used by the poorer population"

coarsened

adj. made coarse or crude by lack of skill

commercial

adj. of the kind or quality used in commerce; average or inferior; "commercial grade of beef"; "commercial oxalic acid"

miserable, wretched, execrable, deplorable, woeful

adj. of very poor quality or condition; "deplorable housing conditions in the inner city"; "woeful treatment of the accused"; "woeful errors of judgment"

less

adj. (usually preceded by `no') lower in quality; "no less than perfect"

low-grade

adj. of inferior quality

poor, mediocre, second-rate

adj. moderate to inferior in quality; "they improved the quality from mediocre to above average"

ropey, ropy

adj. (British informal) very poor in quality; "ropey food"; "a ropey performance"

scrawny, scrubby, stunted

adj. inferior in size or quality; "scrawny cattle"; "scrubby cut-over pine"; "old stunted thorn trees"

second-class

adj. of inferior status or quality; "a second-class citizen"; "second-class accommodations"

third-rate

adj. of lesser quality than second-rate

inutility, unusefulness

n. the quality of having no practical use

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