public utility

noun

1. a business enterprise, as a public-service corporation, performing an essential public service and regulated by the federal, state, or local government. Compare utility ( def 3 ).
2. Usually public utilities. stocks or bonds of public-utility companies, excluding railroads.

public utility

noun

1. an enterprise concerned with the provision to the public of essentials, such as electricity or water Also called (US)public-service corporation

public utility

1. A private company supplying water, gas, electricity , telephone service, or the like, which is granted a monopoly by the government and then regulated by the government.

Other Words From

• public-u·tili·ty adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of public utility¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

We have a provision in our Constitution like this: the use of water for irrigation and the like shall forever be a public utility.

From Project Gutenberg

You can judge better than I whether it will be of any public utility to lay them before Congress.

From Project Gutenberg

I have written in the greatest haste upon a subject, which I hope your Excellency will turn to public utility.

From Project Gutenberg

I lament to see qualities, rare and valuable, squandered away without any public utility.

From Project Gutenberg

Such a regulation, however, was founded purely on considerations of public utility.

From Project Gutenberg