Meaning & use
disutility
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountabletechnicalspecialist
the amount of pain, effort, or unhappiness that something causes, especially in economic theory
Grammar: Usually uncountable: the disutility of work. Specialists may use it countably for a particular cost: a disutility.
Patterns
- the disutility of something
- disutility from something
- the disutility of doing something
Economists measure the disutility of working longer hours as a kind of cost.
For many people, the disutility of commuting outweighs the higher salary.
The model treats effort as a disutility that reduces overall well-being.
nouncountabletechnicalspecialist
a loss of satisfaction or value compared with a previous situation
Grammar: Countable when talking about one specific loss: a disutility. Often used in the plural: disutilities.
Patterns
- a disutility of something
- create disutilities
- the disutility associated with something
The new tax created a disutility for small businesses.
Researchers listed the disutilities that come with longer travel times.
A disutility can appear when a benefit is taken away.
Word forms
| plural | disutilities |
|---|
Common combinations
- the disutility of work
- The study measured the disutility of work in terms of lost free time.
- disutility of effort
- In the model, the disutility of effort rises as tasks become harder.
- marginal disutility
- Marginal disutility increases with each extra hour of labor.
- disutility from commuting
- They estimated the disutility from commuting at about two hours of pay.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cost
- Cost is the everyday word for what you lose or give up; disutility is the technical term for the unpleasantness or loss of satisfaction itself.
- burden
- A burden is a heavy load or duty; disutility is more precise and is used in economic models, not in general conversation.
Opposites
Word family
- utility noun
- the satisfaction or value that something provides
- disutile adjective
- rare; not useful or causing harm
Commonly confused: disutility or disability? disutility or uselessness?
disutility vs disability
Disability refers to a physical or mental condition that limits activity. Disutility is an economic idea about cost or loss of satisfaction and is not about health.
disutility vs uselessness
Uselessness means something has no use at all. Disutility is not about being useless; it is about the negative value or pain something causes.
Practice
In economic models, the extra effort of working another hour is treated as ______.
Choose one answer.
Disutility is the technical term for the cost or unpleasantness of an action, so it fits the sentence. Utility is the opposite: the satisfaction gained. Disability is about health, and uselessness means having no use, neither of which fits the economic context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “disutility”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.