utilitarianism
utilitarianism noun: a system of ethics based on the premise that something's value may be measured by its usefulness.
Noun
utilitarianism (countable and uncountable, plural utilitarianisms)
- A system of ethics based on the premise that something's value may be measured by its usefulness.
- The theory that action should be directed toward achieving the "greatest happiness for the greatest number of people" (hedonistic universalism), or one of various related theories.
- Practicality, functionality, as opposed to e.g. aesthetics.
- After a few more concerts, my uneasiness took form: the response seemed only to be to the Interpreter as Performer. The reviews praised her artistry. But I heard few women speak of her as a bridge in communication for deaf women, about her function, her "utilitarianism."1979 August 25, Vicki Gabriner, Susan Freundlich, “Bridging the Gaps between Deaf and Hearing Lesbians”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 6, page 8
utilitarianism meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
utilitarianism in Hindi
- the theory of the "greatest happiness for the greatest number of people"
- उपयोगितावाद upyogitāvād
utilitarianism in Tamil
- கோட்பாடு, பயனெறிமுறைக் கோட்பாடு, பயனோக்கு, பயன்கருத்து கோட்பாடு
utilitarianism in Urdu
- افادیت پسندی
utilitarianism in Bengali
- the theory of the "greatest happiness for the greatest number of people"
- উপযোগবাদ upojōgbad
More languagesFewer languages
- utilitarianism in Malayalam
- പ്രയോജനവാദം prayōjanavādaṁ
- utilitarianism in Kannada
- ಉಪಯುಕ್ತತಾವಾದ upayuktatāvāda
- utilitarianism in Tagalog
- karahatan
- utilitarianism in Arabic
- نَفْعِيَّة nafʕiyya
- utilitarianism in Indonesian
- utilitarianisme
- utilitarianism in Persian
- فایدهگرایی
- utilitarianism in Vietnamese
- chủ nghĩa vị lợi, chủ nghĩa công lợi
Forms of utilitarianism
| plural | utilitarianisms |
|---|
Origin of utilitarianism
From utilitarian + -ism.
Words formed from utilitarianism
Questions about utilitarianism
- What does utilitarianism mean?
- Utilitarianism means a system of ethics based on the premise that something's value may be measured by its usefulness.
- What is utilitarianism in Hindi?
- Utilitarianism in Hindi is उपयोगितावाद (upyogitāvād). See Utilitarianism meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is utilitarianism?
- Utilitarianism is a noun.
- What is the plural of utilitarianism?
- The plural of utilitarianism is utilitarianisms.
Words near utilitarianism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: utilitarianism (page history and authors); utilitarianism (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); utilitarianism (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-utilitarianism.wav.
Cite this entry: “utilitarianism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/utilitarianism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.