PUBLIC UTILITY

Pronunciation (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does public utility mean? 

• PUBLIC UTILITY (noun)
  The noun PUBLIC UTILITY has 1 sense:

1. a company that performs a public service; subject to government regulation

  Familiarity information: PUBLIC UTILITY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUBLIC UTILITY (noun)

Meaning:

A company that performs a public service; subject to government regulation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

public utility; public utility company; public-service corporation; utility

Hypernyms ("public utility" is a kind of...):

service (a company or agency that performs a public service; subject to government regulation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "public utility"):

phone company; phone service; telco; telephone company; telephone service (a public utility that provides telephone service)

electric company; light company; power company; power service (a public utility that provides electricity)

water company; waterworks (a public utility that provides water)

gas company; gas service (a public utility that provides gas)

bus company; bus service (a public utility providing local transportation)