Sample sentences for UTILITARIAN

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Definition

designed for usefulness rather than beauty or style

She likes plain utilitarian kitchenware.

utilitarian = designed for usefulness rather than beauty or style

He prided himself on not letting his feelings distract from practical, utilitarian considerations.
As cultural ecologist Paul Shepard has observed, "The nomadic Bedouin does not dote on scenery, paint landscapes, or compile a nonutilitarian natural history...."
Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

nonutilitarian = designed for beauty or style rather than usefulness

(Editor's note: The prefix "non-" in nonutilitarian means not and reverses the meaning of utilitarian. This is the same pattern you see in words like nonfat, nonfiction, and nonprofit.)

They were set in small grassless plots littered with broken things, bricks, planks, crockery, things of a once utilitarian value.
William Faulkner -- The Sound and the Fury

utilitarian = designed for usefulness rather than beauty or style

Surely such a utilitarian occupation as the watering of flowers is rather Moulton's duty than yours?
Oscar Wilde -- The Importance of Being Earnest

utilitarian = useful, but without style

Inside was a utilitarian wooden building, and a field of corn.
Michael Crichton -- The Andromeda Strain

utilitarian = designed for usefulness rather than beauty or style

[regarding her favorite word] "I guess I've been living off words for so long it's hard to think about them beyond what's utilitarian."
Amy Tan -- The Bonesetter's Daughter

utilitarian = useful (rather than beautiful or aesthetic)

My parents had raised me to recognize that automobiles are there to get you from point A to point B. They are utilitarian devices, not expressions of social status.
Randy Pausch -- The Last Lecture

utilitarian = designed for usefulness rather than beauty, style, or status

For the first time he realized that eating was something more than a utilitarian function.
London, Jack -- Martin Eden
They were also impressive by their suggestion of something practical, utilitarian, and remote from sentiment.
Conrad, Joseph -- The Arrow of Gold
His own person was the exact embodiment of his utilitarian character.
Melville, Herman -- Moby Dick I-LXVII
Your majesty has not acquired the utilitarian habit of checking the public accounts.
Dumas, Alexandre -- The Man in the Iron Mask

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