civil service

American  

noun

1. those branches of public service concerned with all governmental administrative functions outside the armed services.

2. the body of persons employed in these branches.

3. a system or method of appointing government employees on the basis of competitive examinations, rather than by political patronage.

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civil service British  

noun

1. the service responsible for the public administration of the government of a country. It excludes the legislative, judicial, and military branches. Members of the civil service have no official political allegiance and are not generally affected by changes of governments

2. the members of the civil service collectively

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civil service Cultural  

1. The nonmilitary personnel who work for a government, applying its laws and regulations.

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Etymology

Origin of civil service

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

civil service

Department of Agriculture’s civilian workforce, according to the independent federal agency tasked with managing the civil service.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026

Anthony Littler, a quiet man of simple routines, was 6ft 4ins, worked in the civil service and lived in a flat in East Finchley, north London.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

Radical reform was required to rebuild the civil service and replace its patronage system with open competition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

Does it extend to the civil service as a whole?

From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026

Studied at the Lyceum of Nezhin, went to St. Petersburg in 1828 where he entered, in 1829, the civil service, in the Department of Public Works for the Ministry of the Interior.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Related Words

• administration
• authority
• management
• ministry
• red tape