sport utility vehicle

Meanings

1. A passenger vehicle which combines the towing capacity of a pickup truck with the passenger-carrying space of a minivan or station wagon together with on- or off-road ability.

Etymology

Extant since the 1970s in the technical usage of the auto industry, where at the time it sometimes included a virgule as sport/utility vehicle; in common use among the general public since the early 1990s, when this class of vehicles first became widely popular as an alternative to station wagons and minivans.