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• service
  service

  noun

  an act of helpful activity; help; aid.
• Service
  Service

  noun

  Robert W(illiam), 1874–1958, Canadian writer, born in England.

service

¹ American  

[sur-vis] / ˈsɜr vɪs /

noun

1. an act of helpful activity; help; aid.

   to do someone a service.

2. the supplying or supplier of utilities or commodities, as water, electricity, or gas, required or demanded by the public.

3. the providing or a provider of accommodation and activities required by the public, as maintenance, repair, etc..

   The manufacturer guarantees service and parts.

4. the organized system of apparatus, appliances, employees, etc., for supplying some accommodation required by the public.

   a television repair service.

5. the supplying or a supplier of public communication and transportation: bus service.

   telephone service;

   bus service.

6. the performance of duties or the duties performed as or by a waiter or servant; occupation or employment as a waiter or servant.

7. employment in any duties or work for a person, organization, government, etc.

8. a department of public employment, an administrative division of a government, or the body of public servants in it.

   the diplomatic service.

9. the duty or work of public servants.

10. the serving of a sovereign, state, or government in some official capacity.

11. Military.

    1. the armed forces.

       in the service.

    2. a branch of the armed forces, as the army or navy.

       Which service were you in during the war?

12. Ordnance. the actions required in loading and firing a cannon.

    service of the piece.

13. Often services the performance of any duties or work for another; helpful or professional activity.

    medical services.

14. something made or done by a commercial organization for the public benefit and without regard to direct profit.

    Certain books are published at a loss as a public service.

15. Also called divine service.  public religious worship according to prescribed form and order.

16. a ritual or form prescribed for public worship or for some particular occasion.

    the marriage service.

17. the serving of God by obedience, piety, etc..

    voluntary service.

18. a musical setting of the sung portions of a liturgy.

19. a set of dishes, utensils, etc., for general table use or for particular use.

    a tea service;

    service for eight.

20. answering service.

21. Law. the serving of a process or writ upon a person.

22. Nautical. tarred spun yarn or other small stuff for covering the exterior of a rope.

23. (in tennis, badminton, handball, etc.)

    1. the act or manner of putting the ball or shuttlecock into play; serve.

    2. the ball or shuttlecock as put into play.

24. the mating of a female animal with the male.

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adjective

1. of service; useful.

2. of, relating to, or used by servants, delivery people, etc., or in serving food.

   service stairs;

   the service pieces in a set of dishes.

3. supplying aids or services rather than products or goods.

   Medicine is one of the service professions.

4. supplying maintenance and repair.

   He operates a service center for electrical appliances.

5. of, for, or pertaining to the armed forces of a country or one of them.

   a service academy.

6. charged for providing service.

   a service fee of 15 percent on the restaurant check.

7. providing, authorizing, or guaranteeing service: a service contract.

   a service industry;

   a service contract.

verb (used with object)

• services,
  present (3rd person singular)
• serviced,
  past participle,  past
• servicing
  present participle

1. to make fit for use; repair; restore to condition for service.

   to service an automobile.

2. to supply with aid, information, or other incidental services.

3. (of a male animal) to mate with (a female animal).

4. Finance. to pay off (a debt) over a period of time, as by meeting periodic interest payments.

idioms

1. at someone's service, ready to be of help or use to someone; at one's disposal.

   You will have an English-speaking guide at your service.

2. be of service, to be helpful or useful.

   If we can be of service, do not hesitate to call.

service ² American  

[sur-vis] / ˈsɜr vɪs /

noun

1. a European or North American service tree, especially Sorbus domestica.

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Service ³ American  

[sur-vis] / ˈsɜr vɪs /

noun

1. Robert W(illiam), 1874–1958, Canadian writer, born in England.

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service ¹ British  

/ ˈsɜːvɪs /

noun

1. an act of help or assistance

2. an organized system of labour and material aids used to supply the needs of the public

   telephone service

   bus service

3. the supply, installation, or maintenance of goods carried out by a dealer

4. the state of availability for use by the public (esp in the phrases into or out of service )

5. a periodic overhaul made on a car, machine, etc

6. the act or manner of serving guests, customers, etc, in a shop, hotel, restaurant, etc

7. a department of public employment and its employees

   civil service

8. employment in or performance of work for another

   he has been in the service of our firm for ten years

9. the work of a public servant

10. 1. one of the branches of the armed forces

    2. ( as modifier )

       service life

11. the state, position, or duties of a domestic servant (esp in the phrase in service )

12. the act or manner of serving food

13. a complete set of dishes, cups, etc, for use at table

14. public worship carried out according to certain prescribed forms

    divine service

15. the prescribed form according to which a specific kind of religious ceremony is to be carried out

    the burial service

16. a unified collection of musical settings of the canticles and other liturgical items prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer as used in the Church of England

17. sport

    1. the act, manner, or right of serving a ball

    2. Often shortened to: serve.  the game in which a particular player serves

       he has lost his service

18. (in feudal law) the duty owed by a tenant to his lord

19. the serving of a writ, summons, etc, upon a person

20. nautical a length of tarred marline or small stuff used in serving

21. (of male animals) the act of mating

22. (modifier) of, relating to, or for the use of servants or employees

23. (modifier) serving the public rather than producing goods

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verb

1. to provide service or services

2. to make fit for use

3. to supply with assistance

4. to overhaul (a car, machine, etc)

5. (of a male animal) to mate with (a female)

6. to meet interest and capital payments on (debt)

Service ² British  

/ 'sɜːvɪs /

noun

1. Robert ( William ). 1874–1958, Canadian poet, born in England; noted for his ballad-like poems of gold-rush era Yukon, such as 'The Shooting of Dan McGrew'; his books include Songs of a Sourdough (1907)

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service ³ British  

/ ˈsɜːvɪs /

noun

1. See service tree

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service More Idioms  

1. see at someone's service; break someone's serve (service); lip service; of service to someone; press into service.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unserviced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• servicing
  present
• serviced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• service
  simple
• services
  simple
• have serviced
  perfect
• has serviced
  perfect
• am servicing
  progressive
• are servicing
  progressive
• is servicing
  progressive
• have been servicing
  perfect progressive
• has been servicing
  perfect progressive

Past

• serviced
  simple
• had serviced
  perfect
• was servicing
  progressive
• were servicing
  progressive
• had been servicing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will service
  simple
• will have serviced
  perfect
• will be servicing
  progressive
• will have been servicing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of service¹

First recorded before 1100; Middle English (noun), from Old French, from Latin servitium “servitude,” equivalent to serv(us) “slave” + -itium noun suffix ( see -ice); replacing Middle English servise, late Old English serfise “ceremony,” from Old French servise, variant of service

Origin of service²

First recorded in 1520–30; earlier serves, plural of obsolete serve “service tree”; Middle English; Old English syrfe, from unattested Vulgar Latin sorbea, derivative of Latin sorbus sorb ¹

Explanation

If you perform duties that help someone else, you're providing a service. If you make dinner for your neighbor's children while she's in the hospital, you're doing a good service. Service has many uses, all having to do with serving someone, or doing something for them. In a restaurant the waiter provides service, and if you do something nice for someone, you've done him a good service. If you're in someone's service that means you work for her. Service can also mean a verb meaning "to fix," like when the maintenance whiz services the photocopier, or the mechanic services your car. In church, a ceremony is also called a service.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

service Service services serviced servicing

"Our preference remains for a planned and managed change that will ensure we can avoid a potential service collapse".

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Schools may charge a service or convenience fee for using PayPal or Venmo, according to PayPal, and that fee is set by each school and its respective platform partner.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026

Uber is teaming up with drone startup Zipline to take its delivery service to the skies, a move aimed at winning customers demanding ever-quicker turnaround times for takeout, grocery and retail orders.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Although the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was in operation at the time, Nord Stream 2 had yet to go into service.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

I have to have the supervisor guy sign off on each day of my community service.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

Forest Service, said this week that repealing the rule would give local agencies more authority over land management issues and help reduce barriers to wildfire risk reduction.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

In a statement announcing the move, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the rule had prevented the Forest Service from carrying out vital management work that would curb wildfires.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

Forest Service is aiming to open more than 44 million acres of national-forest land to logging and road construction, a reversal of a policy that protected wildlife habitats for decades.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

When the BBC’s legal team did exactly that, Secret Service counsel Troy Epstein flatly declared the agency was neither authorized to accept service on the family’s behalf nor willing to help facilitate it.

From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026

Now that the Secret Service would be protecting us for years to come, the agency selected official code names for us.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

It added it had recently refreshed its standards setting out how services should provide safe and effective care for those with communication needs.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

“He knows that in order to have excellent public services, you need to have excellent relationships with business,” the pub owner said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Rebecca Hilsenrath, its chief executive, said: "When people feel they are not listened to and that their needs are not met, they lose trust in the very services designed to support them."

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Find insight on Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing and more in the latest Market Talks covering financial services.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

As the patient population grew, services and accommodations became even more inadequate.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Meanwhile, the market may also be becoming more concerned about the high budget deficits of many developed nations, which may need to be serviced by increased supply of debt.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

At the lots, the company’s 56 cars recharge and are cleaned and serviced by contractors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

He insisted that the engine on the 18-year-old Boeing 737 plane had been fully serviced and overhauled in the past two years.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

Helots fed these high-caste soldiers and serviced their every need; one source reports that each Spartan who went into battle against the Persians was attended by seven helots.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026

Given our father’s characteristic air of superiority, I secretly expected him to live in a manor house surrounded by grounds and serviced by a liveried staff.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

In his weekly Flow Show strategy note published Friday, Hartnett calculates that the cost of servicing the interest on that debt has reached $1.5 trillion yearly.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

Over the next decades, he formed a separate engineering company servicing the rapidly-growing North Sea oil business.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

The amount of money that households are spending on servicing debt has risen since its pandemic-era lows, but remains quite small, relative to history.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

This process would require new equipment for in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs.

From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury

Related Words

• account
• assistance
• benefit
• business
• duty
• employment
• maintenance
• office
• supply
• use
• utility
• work