Utilization

How to spell utilization

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce utilization

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does utilization mean?

1. nounThe action of making practical and effective use of something, or the degree to which something is used.

Utilization in a sentence

• The report measured the utilization of meeting rooms across the office.

• Better utilization of the existing fleet would cut the need for new vehicles.

Where does utilization come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin utilis, meaning 'useful' or 'fit for use', which was itself built on the verb uti, 'to use or make use of'. French turned the adjective into the verb utiliser, 'to put to use', and from there formed the noun utilisation for the act of using something. English borrowed the verb 'utilize' and this matching noun in the early 1800s, a period when technical and economic writing favoured weighty Latin-derived abstractions for ideas as plain as simply 'using' a thing. The same uti root still sits inside the everyday words 'use', 'usual', and 'utensil', a tool that is useful. The spelling trap is the long, unstressed middle: the schwa vowels in u-ti-li-za-tion give no clue whether to write i or a, so picturing the base 'utilize' helps anchor the letters.

How the word is built

• util- (from Latin utilis: useful)
• -iz- (verb-forming)
• -ation (noun of action)

British and American spelling

Utilization is the American spelling. British English spells it utilisation.