Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Utilitarian |
UtilitarianAdjective1. Having a useful function; "utilitarian steel tables". 2. Having utility often to the exclusion of values; "plain utilitarian kitchenware". Noun1. Someone who believes that the value of a thing depends on its utility. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "utilitarian" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1831. (references) |
Synonym: UtilitarianSynonym: useful (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Philanthropy | Philanthropist, endaemonist, utilitarian, Benthamite, socialist, communist, cosmopolite, citizen of the world, amicus humani generis; knight errant; patriot. |
Adjective: philanthropic, humanitarian, utilitarian, cosmopolitan; public-spirited, patriotic; humane, large-hearted; (benevolent); chivalric; generous. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Utilitarian |
| English words defined with "utilitarian": cosmetic ♦ decorative ♦ ornamental ♦ staff. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | South front and east side. Photograph by David Johnson, March 29, 1981. (Reproduction Number: HABS, KANS,21-HOPE.V,1-B-2) As with the one-room schoolhouse, the single-family farm complexes that dot the American landscape are symbols of our rural heritage. The simple and straightforward structure of this barn is typical of the utilitarian character of agrarian buildings. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Resources are allocated to those who have both a need for them and a strong likelihood of benefiting from them. Under such a plan, those who are severely cognitively impaired and hence have little ability to express their quality of life might receive fewer services to make these resources more available to those who can better appreciate them. Because such a utilitarian doctrine raises major ethical dilemmas, careful analysis and much discussion are needed to examine the pros and cons of such a principle of resource distribution. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Utilitarian" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 90.53% of the time. "Utilitarian" is used about 169 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 90.53% | 153 | 25,427 |
| Noun (singular) | 8.88% | 15 | 90,616 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.59% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 169 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "utilitarian": utilitarian-inspired. | |
Ending with "utilitarian": non-utilitarian. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
utilitarian | 35 |
bioethics utilitarian | 13 |
utilitarian ethics | 9 |
theory utilitarian | 9 |
act utilitarian | 4 |
object utilitarian | 3 |
business ethics utilitarian | 3 |
rule utilitarian | 3 |
definition utilitarian | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "utilitarian"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | utulitarist, utilitar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | منفعي, هادف إلى المنفعة, المنفعي. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | утилитарен, утилитарист (benthamite). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 功利主义. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | utilitaristický, utilitární, utilitářský, užitkový, prospìchářský. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | معتقدباصل اخلاقی سودمندگراءی , مطلوبیت چیزی بخاطرسودمندی ان , سودمندگرا. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | hyötynäkökohdat (utilitarian considerations). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | utilitariste, utilitaire (utility). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | utilitaristisch. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ωφελιμιστικόσ, οφελιμιστήσ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | תועלת י. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | utilitarista. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | utilitario (applicatory, convenient, handy, practical). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 功利的 , 即物的 (matter-of-fact, practical, realistic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | そくぶつてき (matter-of-fact, practical, realistic), "うりてき. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | vondeishagh (advantageous, beneficial, expedient, gainful, lucrative, profitable), lhome-ymmydoilagh, lhome-ymmydoil. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ilitarianutay utilitário. (various references) utilitar. (various references) утилитарный. (various references) utilitaristički, utilitarista. (various references) utilitario (compact). (various references) utilitarist (benthamite), utilitarisk, utilist, praktisk (applied, handy, practical, sensible, useful, utility, working), nytto- (utility), funktionell (functional, functionary, utility). (various references) yararcıl kimse, yararcı, faydalı (advantageous, beneficial, benignant, favorable, favourable, helpful, of use, profitable, rewarding, salutary, serviceable, useful, utility, valuable), faydacı kimse, faydacı (pragmatic, pragmatical, pragmatist), çıkarcı (calculating, expedient, interested, mercenary, number one, politic, profiteer, self-seeker, self-seeking, sordid). (various references) утилітарний (utility). (various references) vị lợi, người vị lợi (benthamite), người theo thuyết vị lợi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "utilitarian": utilitarianism, utilitarianisms, utilitarians. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "utilitarian": futilitarian, nonutilitarian. (additional references) | |
Words containing "utilitarian": futilitarianism, futilitarianisms, futilitarians, nonutilitarians. (additional references) | |
| |
"Utilitarian" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: atilitarian, ulitilarian, ultilitarian, utalitarian, utiliarian, utilitarians, utilitarion, utilitrarian, utlitarian. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "utilitarian" (pronounced yuwti'lute"rēun) |
| 8 | -l u t e" r ē u n | egalitarian, proletarian, totalitarian. |
| 7 | -u t e" r ē u n | authoritarian, humanitarian, majoritarian, unitarian, vegetarian. |
| 6 | -t e" r ē u n | libertarian, nonsectarian, parliamentarian, sectarian. |
| 5 | -e" r ē u n | agrarian, barbarian, carrion, centenarian, Clarion, contrarian, disciplinarian, librarian, octogenarian, ovarian, planarian, seminarian, septuagenarian, veterinarian. |
| 4 | -r ē u n | centurion, criterion, Cyprian, equestrian, historian, hyperborean, pagurian, pedestrian, praetorian, presbyterian, salutatorian, valedictorian, valerian. |
| 3 | -ē u n | accordion, alien, amphibian, arcadian, bohemian, Campion, chameleon, champion, circadian, collodion, comedian, custodian, draconian, galleon, gorgonian, Guardian, halcyon, herculean, lesbian, mammalian, median, mediterranean, meridian, Napoleon, nickelodeon, oblivion, obsidian, Odeon, plutonian, scorpion, simian, subterranean, symbion, theologian, thespian, utopian. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-i-i-i-l-n-r-t-t-u" | |
-3 letters: rutilant. | |
-4 letters: antiair, initial, natural, nautili, rattail, titania, titular. | |
-5 letters: antiar, antral, anural, anuria, atrial, attain, intuit, lariat, latria, lattin, narial, nitril, nutria, ranula, ratlin, rattan, ritual, tantra, tarnal, tartan, titian, trinal, truant, urania, urinal. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-i-i-i-l-n-r-t-t-u" | |
+1 letter: futilitarian, utilitarians. | |
+2 letters: antiritualism, futilitarians, ritualization. | |
+3 letters: antiritualisms, latitudinarian, nonutilitarian, ritualizations, utilitarianism. | |
+4 letters: disarticulating, disarticulation, futilitarianism, latitudinarians, misarticulating, nonutilitarians, platitudinarian, triangularities, utilitarianisms. | |
+5 letters: disarticulations, futilitarianisms, platitudinarians, spiritualization, unalterabilities. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
