marginal utility

noun

Economics.

1. the extra utility or satisfaction derived by a consumer from the consumption of the last unit of a commodity.

Word History and Origins

Origin of marginal utility¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

And it has a marginal utility curve that only helps you so much.

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While the dispassionate, what-happened-yesterday, inverted-pyramid daily news story still has some marginal utility, it is mostly a throwback at this point — a relic of a daily product delivered on paper to a geographically limited community.

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One example of this is marginal utility, a basic building block of modern economics that assumes all value derives from the wants of consumers.

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Are we reaching diminished marginal utility in many of these areas?

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As a rule, if you’re looking to clear a room, you start talking about either the NHL or the law of diminished marginal utility.

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