How to Use utilitarianism in a Sentence

utilitarianism

noun
  • But the utilitarianism of the silhouette is the point here.
    New York Times, 20 May 2022
  • But such stark utilitarianism sits poorly with how most people view the world, because AVs would still cause a lot of deaths.
    The Economist, 10 May 2018
  • So the marketers took those form factors and jacked them up in the air, adding some styling tweaks meant to suggest the utilitarianism of military surplus.
    Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 25 Oct. 2017
  • This will push them closer to utilitarianism, and an equal concern for all.
    Tyler Cowen, Star Tribune, 7 Mar. 2021
  • But the dark utilitarianism of Palladium is a far cry from the neon brightness that streetwear aficionados have come to expect from this man of style.
    Ryan Dombal, Esquire, 6 Sep. 2011
  • This was the opposite of utilitarianism, or the suggestion that what was good was that which would benefit the greatest number of people.
    Kim Phillips-Fein, The New Republic, 9 June 2020
  • These women took artistic license to write their own beauty narrative, one that refused to be boxed in by the utilitarianism of blue-collar work.
    Charles Harbison, The Atlantic, 16 Sep. 2021
  • The constraints of the pandemic have given us few reasons to carry a handbag outside of pure utilitarianism.
    Willow Lindley, Vogue, 14 Dec. 2020
  • The classic example – often used to critique utilitarianism – is whether you should be required to kill another person if doing so would save a greater number of lives.
    Lee McIntyre, The Conversation, 21 May 2020
  • Now I’m an artist, I’m not into utilitarianism as an aesthetic.
    Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, 20 Dec. 2016
  • But there are plenty of variations on the trolley problem that suggest there's more than pure utilitarianism involved in the decision-making.
    John Timmer, Ars Technica, 15 Apr. 2022
  • Dickens’s novel was a satire of the philosophy of utilitarianism as it was applied to education: the idea that working-class children needed to know enough to work in factories and nothing more.
    Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 7 Mar. 2016
  • Bazerman’s guiding light is the philosophy of utilitarianism, which teaches the goal of creating the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
    Hbs Working Knowledge, Forbes, 6 May 2021
  • His thinking can be traced to the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham, the Enlightenment-era English legal philosopher and reformer.
    Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022
  • Demonstrating the same understanding of color today, Hadid’s outerwear and trousers popped against a matte black knit top, plus the frayed trim added an extra layer of utilitarianism.
    Maria Ward, Vogue, 3 Oct. 2017
  • Leaders in advanced countries are not obligated to practice global utilitarianism or lift up the global poor at the expense of their working and middle classes.
    William A. Galston, WSJ, 27 Mar. 2018
  • In layman’s terms, a utilitarianism approach would maximize overall health by directing care toward those most likely to benefit the most from it.
    Austin Frakt, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2020
  • Arriving in the wake of the boho-chic early aughts, the utilitarianism of the post-recession days and the sentimental softness of the mid-2010s, these designers are building an aesthetic language for now: sly, assertive and somewhat unhinged.
    Meara Sharma, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2018
  • Conversations with MacAskill often turn to radical utilitarianism and audacious plans to save the world.
    Derek Thompson, The Atlantic, 29 June 2018
  • Melding crafts and fine art with an emphasis on simplicity and utilitarianism, the Bauhaus movement helped define the modernist aesthetic.
    Oliver Sava, Chicago Reader, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Unlike in many Western countries where more natural makeup looks are in vogue, women across Arab Gulf countries often lean toward bright, eye-catching makeup trends and accessories that offset the utilitarianism of black veils and abayas.
    Washington Post, 14 Oct. 2019
  • Schur even drew on his own experience when crafting Eleanor’s initial reaction to learning about utilitarianism in Season 1.
    Elizabeth Yuko, The Atlantic, 21 Oct. 2017
  • Doctrine of utilitarianism: Columbia Gas of Ohio wants to increase distribution rates on gas bills by nearly a third to raise $221.4 million for infrastructure projects and to comply with federal mandates.
    cleveland, 22 June 2022
  • Bankman-Fried would never say that about utilitarianism, or about Effective Altruism.
    Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 16 Dec. 2022
  • This sense of elevated utilitarianism also takes shape in several cadet coats, including one done in corduroy and metallic piping.
    Maria Ward, Vogue, 11 Aug. 2017
  • Fried is describing the variety of utilitarianism known as Effective Altruism, which, as I’ve written earlier, is notably hospitable to billionaires who don’t wish to pay taxes.
    Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 16 Dec. 2022
  • In the penultimate episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s third season, the protagonist Kimmy takes a college philosophy class, learns about the trolley problem, and becomes obsessed with utilitarianism.
    Elizabeth Yuko, The Atlantic, 21 Oct. 2017
  • Proponents of an organ market had historically invoked the crisp—some say cold—logic of utilitarianism.
    WIRED, 5 Jan. 2023
  • If the pandemic has caused any single identifiable outcome for fashion, it’s that utilitarianism has been replaced with a spirit of experimentation.
    Isabel Slone, Harper's BAZAAR, 1 Nov. 2021
  • The fashion scene loves the boyish sensibility of utilitarianism.
    Alexis Bennett, Vogue, 26 Jan. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'utilitarianism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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