Etymologically
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utilize

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈjuː.tɪ.laɪz/[1]
  • US: /ˈju.tə.laɪz/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French utiliser (1792), from utilizzare (1760),[2][3][4] from utile (“useful”), ūtilis (“usable, useful”),[3][5] from ūtor (“to use, profit by”), the source of use.[3][4] Merriam-Webster and Klein describe the French verb as formed on utile with the suffix that became -ize.[6][7] Barnhart notes that utile "useful" also existed in English from 1484, now obsolete.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make useful, put to use: Etymonline dates the verb to 1794,[3] while the OED, Merriam-Webster and Barnhart give 1807, from Joel Barlow's Columbiad,[2][6][5] and Dictionary.com 1800–10.[8]

Semantic evolution

The word spread quickly in the 19th century: in 1873 Fitzedward Hall remarked that utilize was "fast antiquating improve" in the sense "turn to account".[3] The noun utilization followed in 1847, perhaps under the influence of utilisation.[5] A rare intransitive use, to make oneself useful, is found in Howells in 1883.[2]

Timeline

  • 1794 – to make use of.[3]
  • 1807 – first OED quotation.[2][6]
  • 1847 – utilization.[5]
  • 1883 – intransitive, to make oneself useful (rare).[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To make practical or profitable use of something; to turn to account: The new plant utilizes waste heat from the furnace.

Word family

  • utilizable
  • utilizer
  • utilization
  • overutilize
  • reutilize
  • underutilize

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that critics often call utilize a needless substitute for use, and that many examples could take use instead with no loss but pretentiousness; but utilize can mean to find a profitable or practical use for something, which use alone does not say.[9] The spelling utilise is chiefly British.[6][8]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin