“Utilize” is a stilted and stupidiciosis* word

Dear Legal Writer, If you think your reader wants sophisticated words, think
again.
Case in point:

“utilize” (aka, the most stilted, stupid word)

🔸 Some write “utilize” because they think it sounds more formal or professional than “use.”

—It doesn’t. It just sounds like you’re TRYING to sound formal and professional but have missed the mark.

🔸 Others write “utilize” because they think it will make them sound smarter—more erudite.

—It won’t. It just sounds like you’re TRYING to come off smarter than you are. That’s not a good look.

⭐️ Unless you are POSITIVE that in your legal context, your Reader prefers “utilize” to mean “use” — does anyone? — just write “use.”

🔷 Beware that “utilize” doesn’t only mean “use.”

—“Utilize” can mean “to use something in a new or unsanctioned way.” Similar meanings include, “to convert to an unintended use,” and “to give use to something otherwise useless.”

—“Utilize” can also mean “to make use of,” or “to make useful,” which is close to “use,” but not quite.

❓ Perhaps there might be an occasion to use “utilize” instead of “use” when you mean “to make use of” as something different than “use”? Even so, that will be most uncommon.

—When in doubt, stick with “use.”

My conclusion is this:

If you intend “utilize” to mean something other than “use,” then it’s ok to use “utilize” instead of “use.”

⭐️ Otherwise, if you mean “use,” just write “use.”

🔷 “Utilize” is a needlessly long synonym for “use.”

You don’t have room to spare in legal writing. Cutting your writing to your Reader’s page requirements will be hard enough.

✅ “Use” saves four characters and two syllables over “utilize.”

Don’t add unnecessarily long or complex words when you don’t have to!

***
For additional reading on language choices judges dislike, see Ross Guberman, “Judges Speaking Softly, What They Long for When They Read,” 44 Litigation 4 (Summer 2018); see also id. (“‘I loathe the word ‘utilize.’”)
***
Fondly,
💌 Amanda

🗳️ Will you stop using “utilize” for “use”? Anyone prefer “utilize” instead of “use” when you mean “use”? Why?

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