CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is used to determine the display and formatting of HTML elements. It separates content from presentation. There are three ways to use CSS - inline styles within HTML elements, internal style sheets within the <head> section, and external style sheets in separate files linked via <link> tags. External style sheets allow consistent formatting across multiple pages by editing one file. Browsers prioritize conflicting styles based on their origin, with inline styles taking highest priority and external styles the lowest.