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utilize - 4 dictionary results

u⋅ti⋅lize

  [yoot-l-ahyz]
Use utilize in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), -lized, -liz⋅ing.
to put to use; turn to profitable account: to utilize a stream to power a mill.
Also, especially British, u⋅ti⋅lise.

Origin:
1800–10; < F utiliser, equiv. to utile useful (see utile ) + -iser -ize

Related forms:
u⋅ti⋅liz⋅a⋅ble, adjective
u⋅ti⋅li⋅za⋅tion, noun
u⋅ti⋅liz⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
See use.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To utilize
u·til·ize   (yōōt'l-īz')   
tr.v.   u·til·ized, u·til·iz·ing, u·til·iz·es
To put to use, especially to find a profitable or practical use for. See Synonyms at use.

[French utiliser, from Italian utilizzare, from utile, useful, from Latin ūtilis, from ūtī, to use.]
u'til·iz'a·ble adj., u'til·i·za'tion (-ĭ-zā'shən) n., u'til·iz'er n.
Usage Note: A number of critics have remarked that utilize is an unnecessary substitute for use. It is true that many occurrences of utilize could be replaced by use with no loss to anything but pretentiousness, for example, in sentences such as They utilized questionable methods in their analysis or We hope that many commuters will continue to utilize mass transit after the bridge has reopened. But utilize can mean "to find a profitable or practical use for." Thus the sentence The teachers were unable to use the new computers might mean only that the teachers were unable to operate the computers, whereas The teachers were unable to utilize the new computers suggests that the teachers could not find ways to employ the computers in instruction.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Utilize

U"til*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Utilized; p. pr. & vb. n. Utilizing.] [Cf. F. utiliser.] To make useful; to turn to profitable account or use; to make use of; as, to utilize the whole power of a machine; to utilize one's opportunities.

In former ages, the mile-long corridors, with their numerous alcoves, might have been utilized as . . . dungeons. --Hawthorne.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : utilize
Spanish: utilizar,
German: verwenden,
Japanese: 利用する
More Translations »

utilize 
1807, from Fr. utiliser, from It. utilizzare, from utile "usable," from L. utilis "usable," from uti (see use). Utilization is first attested 1847.
"Utilize is fast antiquating improve, in the sense of 'turn to account.' " [Fitzedward Hall, "Modern English," 1873]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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