utilize Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose
    employ; apply; use; utilise.
    • use your head!
    • we only use Spanish at home
    • I can't use this tool
    • Apply a magnetic field here
    • This thinking was applied to many projects
    • How do you utilize this tool?
    • I apply this rule to get good results
    • use the plastic bags to store the food
    • He doesn't know how to use a computer
  2. verb convert (from an investment trust to a unit trust)

WordNet

U"til*ize transitive verb
Etymology
Cf. F. utiliser.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Utilized ; present participle & verbal noun Utilizing
Definitions
  1. 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 1913