civil service
Americannoun
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those branches of public service concerned with all governmental administrative functions outside the armed services.
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the body of persons employed in these branches.
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a system or method of appointing government employees on the basis of competitive examinations, rather than by political patronage.
noun
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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
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the members of the civil service collectively
Etymology
Origin of civil service
First recorded in 1775–85
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The immediate cause of the anger is a preliminary civil service examination held in April.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
The 27-year-old, from a farming family from Bokaro, has spent years preparing for Jharkhand's civil service examination, hoping it would get her the security of a government job.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Department of Agriculture’s civilian workforce, according to the independent federal agency tasked with managing the civil service.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
Does it extend to the civil service as a whole?
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026
“Did we not put that old book he used to read for the civil service exam inside?”
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.