utility

utility
    adj 1: used of beef; usable but inferior [syn: {utility(a)},
           {utility-grade}]
    2: capable of substituting in any of several positions on a
       team; "a utility infielder" [syn: {utility(a)},
       {substitute(a)}]
    n 1: a company that performs a public service; subject to
         government regulation [syn: {utility}, {public utility},
         {public utility company}, {public-service corporation}]
    2: the quality of being of practical use [syn: {utility},
       {usefulness}] [ant: {inutility}, {unusefulness},
       {uselessness}]
    3: 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"
    4: (economics) a measure that is to be maximized in any
       situation involving choice
    5: (computer science) a program designed for general support of
       the processes of a computer; "a computer system provides
       utility programs to perform the tasks needed by most users"
       [syn: {utility program}, {utility}, {service program}]
    6: 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 \U*til"i*ty\, n. [OE. utilite, F. utilit['e], L.
   utilitas, fr. utilis useful. See {Utile}.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. The quality or state of being useful; usefulness;
      production of good; profitableness to some valuable end;
      as, the utility of manure upon land; the utility of the
      sciences; the utility of medicines.
      [1913 Webster]

            The utility of the enterprises was, however, so
            great and obvious that all opposition proved
            useless.                              --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Polit. Econ.) Adaptation to satisfy the desires or wants;
      intrinsic value. See Note under {Value}, 2.
      [1913 Webster]

            Value in use is utility, and nothing else, and in
            political economy should be called by that name and
            no other.                             --F. A.
                                                  Walker.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Happiness; the greatest good, or happiness, of the
      greatest number, -- the foundation of utilitarianism. --J.
      S. Mill.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Usefulness; advantageous; benefit; profit; avail;
        service.

   Usage: {Utility}, {Usefulness}. Usefulness has an Anglo-Saxon
          prefix, utility is Latin; and hence the former is used
          chiefly of things in the concrete, while the latter is
          employed more in a general and abstract sense. Thus,
          we speak of the utility of an invention, and the
          usefulness of the thing invented; of the utility of an
          institution, and the usefulness of an individual. So
          beauty and utility (not usefulness) are brought into
          comparison. Still, the words are often used
          interchangeably.
          [1913 Webster]
    

utility software
utility
utility program

   <tool> (Or utility program, tool) Any {software} that performs
   some specific task that is secondary to the main purpose of
   using the computer (the latter would be called {application
   programs}) but is not essential to the operation of the
   computer ({system software}).

   Many utilities could be considered as part of the {system
   software}, which can in turn be considered part of the
   {operating system}.

   The following are some broad categories of utility software,
   specific types and examples.

   * Disks

   {disk formatter}: {FDISK}, {format}

   {defragmenter}

   {disk checker}: {fsck}

   {disk cleaner}

   {system profiler}

   {backup}

   {file system compression}

   * Files and directories

   list directory: {ls}, {dir}

   copy, move, remove: {cp}, {mv}, {rm}, {xcopy}

   {archive}: {tar}

   {compression}: {zip}

   format conversion: {atob}

   comparison: {diff}

   sort: {sort}

   * Security

   {authentication}: {login}

   {antivirus software}: {avast}, {Norton Antivirus}

   {firewall}: {Zone Alarm}, {Windows firewall}

   {encryption}: {gpg})

   * Editors for general-purpose formats (as opposed to specific
   formats like a {word processing} document)

   {text editor}: {Emacs}

   {binary editor}, {hex editor}

   * Communications

   {mail transfer agent}: {sendmail}

   e-mail notification: {biff}

   file transfer: {ftp}, {rcp}, {Firefox}

   file synchronisation: {unison}, {briefcase}

   chat: {Gaim}, {cu}

   directory services: {bind}, {nslookup}, {whois}

   network diagnosis: {ping}, {traceroute}

   remote access: {rlogin}, {ssh}

   * Software development

   {compiler}: {gcc}

   build: {make}, {ant}

   {codewalker}

   {preprocessor}: {cpp}

   {debugger}: {adb}, {gdb}

   {installation}: {apt-get}, {msiexec}, {patch}

   {compiler compiler}: {yacc}

   * Hardware

   device configuration: {PCU}, {devman}, {stty}

   (2007-02-02)
    

102 Moby Thesaurus words for "utility":
      Aktiengesellschaft, account, advantage, advantageousness,
      aktiebolag, alternate, alternative, appliance, applicability,
      appropriateness, availability, backup, beneficialness,
      body corporate, business, business establishment, cartel,
      chamber of commerce, combine, commercial enterprise, compagnie,
      company, concern, conglomerate, conglomerate corporation,
      consolidating company, consortium, convenience, copartnership,
      corporate body, corporation, counterfeit, diversified corporation,
      drive, dummy, effectiveness, efficacy, efficiency, engine,
      enginery, enterprise, equivalent, ersatz, facility, fake,
      favorableness, firm, fitness, fixture, functionality, helpfulness,
      holding company, house, imitation, industry,
      joint-stock association, joint-stock company, machine, machinery,
      makeshift, mechanical aid, mechanical device, mechanism, mock,
      motive power, motor, operability, operating company, partnership,
      phony, pinch, plunderbund, pool, power plant, power source,
      practicability, practical utility, practicality, profitability,
      provisional, proxy, public utility, relevance, reserve, secondary,
      service, serviceability, spare, stock company, stopgap, substitute,
      syndicate, temporary, tentative, token, trade association, trust,
      usability, use, usefulness, utilizability, vicarious