1
a
: firmly established and generally accepted practice or procedure
b
: a uniform certain reasonable lawful practice existing in a particular locality or occupation and binding persons entering into transactions chiefly on the basis of presumed familiarity
c
: the way in which words and phrases are actually used (as in a particular form or sense) in a language community
2
a
: the action, amount, or mode of using
a decreased usage of electricity
b
: manner of treating
Synonyms
Examples of usage in a Sentence
Seat belt usage in the state is now mandatory.
drug usage among college students
Restaurant dishes must be able to withstand rough usage.
efforts to reduce water usage
increasing usage of the nation's highways
This word occurs in casual usage.
differences between British and American usage
I came across an uncommon usage I'd like to discuss with you.
Recent Examples on the Web
The disparity was greatest in places with the highest overall usage of the medications, including New York, Silicon Valley and South Florida.
—
Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2024
The company anonymously monitors all customer usage and is prepared to ground customers who damage the aircraft or get edgy with battery capacity.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024
Sill also grew up in an abusive home, and turned to a life of crime and drug usage as an escape mechanism.
—Lynsey Eidell, Peoplemag, 13 Apr. 2024
And even though generative AI usage generally has cooled off among the general public, students aren’t showing signs of letting up.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 11 Apr. 2024
Crypto mines have become a nuisance for some rural Arkansas communities with many residents complaining of loud noise and high water and electricity usage from the digital assets ventures.
—Neal Earley, arkansasonline.com, 11 Apr. 2024
But experts say that powering emergency services is not what peaker plants, meant to meet spikes in demand during hours of peak usage, are for.
—The Arizona Republic, 10 Apr. 2024
In North America, 16 of 37 companies, 43 percent, increased their emissions since 2016.
Of the world’s top fossil fuels, the report found the mining and usage of coal to shift the most after 2016.
—Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Apr. 2024
Given the paper's findings, and surveys showing that about half of the U.S. population uses mobile payments, Xu estimates that approximately 4.5% of total credit card usage in the country is due to the influence of frictionless payments.
—Ayesha Rascoe, NPR, 7 Apr. 2024
Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2024
The company anonymously monitors all customer usage and is prepared to ground customers who damage the aircraft or get edgy with battery capacity.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024
Sill also grew up in an abusive home, and turned to a life of crime and drug usage as an escape mechanism.
—Lynsey Eidell, Peoplemag, 13 Apr. 2024
And even though generative AI usage generally has cooled off among the general public, students aren’t showing signs of letting up.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 11 Apr. 2024
Crypto mines have become a nuisance for some rural Arkansas communities with many residents complaining of loud noise and high water and electricity usage from the digital assets ventures.
—Neal Earley, arkansasonline.com, 11 Apr. 2024
But experts say that powering emergency services is not what peaker plants, meant to meet spikes in demand during hours of peak usage, are for.
—The Arizona Republic, 10 Apr. 2024
In North America, 16 of 37 companies, 43 percent, increased their emissions since 2016.
Of the world’s top fossil fuels, the report found the mining and usage of coal to shift the most after 2016.
—Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Apr. 2024
Given the paper's findings, and surveys showing that about half of the U.S. population uses mobile payments, Xu estimates that approximately 4.5% of total credit card usage in the country is due to the influence of frictionless payments.
—Ayesha Rascoe, NPR, 7 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'usage.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near usage
Cite this Entry
“Usage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/usage. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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Legal Definition
usage
noun
us·age
ˈyü-sij, -zij 
: an habitual or uniform practice especially in an area or trade compare custom
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