use

Noun

use (countable and uncountable, plural uses)

1. The act of using.
   • The use of torture has been condemned by the United Nations.
   • […]long john underwear, heavy socks, rubber boots, thick flannel shirts, oilskins — it all wore and tore and sprung holes from the hard use of battling storm and bad weather.1962, Curtis Bok, Maria: a Tale of the Northeast Coast and of the North Atlantic, New York, page 127

   Synonyms:

   employment, usage, note, nait

2. (uncountable) The act of consuming alcohol or narcotics.
   • Heavy alcohol use (2.5 drinks per day or more) at any age is unhealthy and should be avoided.2018, Timothy R. Jennings, The Aging Brain, →ISBN, page 93
3. (uncountable) Usefulness, utility, benefit; purpose, point.
   • Near-synonyms: meaning, meaningfulness
   • What's the use of a law that nobody follows?

   Synonyms:

   meaning, meaningfulness

   Antonyms:

   no use, uselessness, pointlessness, purposelessness, meaninglessness

4. A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
   • This tool has many uses.
   • The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26
5. Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
   • I have no further use for these textbooks, but we may have use for all these other things later.
6. (obsolete, rare) Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
   • DON PEDRO. Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick.
     BEATRICE. Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for a single one: [...]1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
   • Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC
7. (archaic) Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
   • Let later age that noble vse enuie,1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13
   • How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world!c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
8. (obsolete) Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
   • O Caesar! these things are beyond all use.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
9. A special form of a rite adopted for use in a particular context, often a diocese.
   • the Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the York use; the Ordinariate use
   • From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use.1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC
10. (forging) A slab of iron welded to the side of a forging, such as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.

Verb

UK/juːz/US/juz/

use (third-person singular simple present uses, present participle using, simple past and past participle used)

1. (transitive) To employ; to apply; to utilize.
   • Use this knife to slice the bread.
   • We can use this mathematical formula to solve the problem.

   Synonyms:

   apply, employ, engage, utilise, utilize

2. (often, transitive, with-up) To expend; to consume by employing.
   • I used the money they allotted me.
   • We should use up most of the fuel.
3. (transitive) To exploit.
   • You never cared about me; you just used me!
   • Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist

   Synonyms:

   exploit, take advantage of

4. (transitive) To consume (alcohol, drugs, etc), especially regularly.
   • He uses cocaine.
   • I have never used drugs.
5. (intransitive) To consume a previously specified substance, especially a drug to which one is addicted.
   • Richard began experimenting with cocaine last year; now he uses almost every day.
6. (transitive) To benefit from; to be able to employ or stand.
   • I could use a drink.
   • My car could use a new coat of paint.
7. (transitive) To suggest or request that other people employ a specific set of gender pronouns when referring to the subject.
   • I use they/them pronouns.
   • The "Older" [butch] group is maintained by three administrators who all use she/her pronouns and two moderators, one of whom uses they'them pronouns while the other uses she/her.2023, Brianna I. Wiens, Michelle MacArthur, Shana MacDonald, Milena Radzikowska, Stories of Feminist Protest and Resistance: Digital Performative Assemblies, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 92

   Synonyms:

   go by

8. To accustom; to habituate. (Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.)
   • soldiers who are used to hardships and danger
   • to use the soldiers to hardships and danger
   1. (obsolete, reflexive) To accustom oneself.
      • It is not without some difficulty, that a man born in society can form an idea of such savages, and their condition; and unless he has used himself to abstract thinking, he can hardly represent to himself such a state of simplicity, in which man can have so few desires, and no appetites roving...1714, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees, London: T. Ostell, published 1806, Sixth Dialogue, p. 466
      • So that reading constantly, and thus using yourself to write, and enjoying besides the Benefit of a good Memory, every thing you heard or read, became your own […]1742, Samuel Richardson, Pamela, London: S. Richardson, 4th edition, Volume 3, Letter 12, p. 53
9. (intransitive, archaic or literary except in past tense) To habitually do; to be wont to do. (Now chiefly in past-tense forms; see used to.)
   • I used to get things done.
   • Peter Pol, doctor in divinitie used to sit upon his mule, who as Monstrelet reporteth, was wont to ride up and downe the streets of Paris, ever sitting sideling, as women use.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 48, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
10. (dated) To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
    • to use an animal cruelly
    • See who it is: and, now the battle’s ended,
      If friend or foe, let him be gently used.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
11. (obsolete, reflexive) To behave, act, comport oneself.
    • They live together lovingly: For no Magistrate is either haughty or fearefull. Fathers they be called, and like fathers they use themselves.1551, Thomas More, Utopia, London: B. Alsop & T. Fawcet, 1639, “Of Bond-men, Sicke persons, Wedlocke, and divers other matters,” page 231
    • I pray to God that this may be a sufficient admonition unto thee to use thyself more wisely hereafter, for assure thyself that if thou dost not amend thy prodigality, thou wilt be the last Earl of our house.c. 1558, George Cavendish, The Life and Death of Thomas Wolsey, cardinal, edited by Grace H. M. Simpson, London: R. & T. Washbourne, 1901, page 57