“Use” looks bad to us because of the euphemism treadmill, where it took the same path as what led us to the English word “rape.” So “use” is a degrading kind of making-into-purpose, like when you use a pencil eraser and it goes away. And “to make use of” distances us further from either, and it makes you sound more manipulative to say it that way than the others. “Utilize” kind of sucks, but you have to ‘utilize’ it in technical writing or whatever. (There are no good options here.) And still–they’re diverging, and not giving us enough words that we have for one that sounds neutral, all deriving from the same font.
Like, what?
You don’t have to worry about descript/prescript; it’s already settled there. If you don’t know how to use a word without avoiding shades of meaning, you shouldn’t use words. Use a different phrase. Talk different. There’s always a different way to say. “I found this utilious” = “I had this in my pocket” or whatever. Be creative.