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.

---

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

---

civil service Cultural  

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

---

Etymology

Origin of civil service

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

Cap bearing the badge of the Indian Police Service, the highest-trained level of police officers who must pass the Indian civil service exam.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

Cap bearing the badge of the Indian Police Service, the highest-trained level of police officers who must pass the Indian civil service exam.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

It said, for instance, that 28% of civil service directors were women and out of the 36 CEOs of state-owned enterprises just five were female.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026

Carter’s administration instituted the most sweeping reforms of the civil service since 1883’s Pendleton Act, which replaced the spoils system and created a professional, merit-based system.

From Salon • Feb. 15, 2026

She wanted to hire women, but by law she had to choose from lists of people who had taken civil service exams in math or science.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Related Words

• administration
• authority
• management
• ministry
• red tape