subserve

[ suhb-surv ]

See synonyms for subserve on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),sub·served, sub·serv·ing.

to be useful or instrumental in promoting (a purpose, action, etc.): Light exercise subserves digestion.
Obsolete. to serve as a subordinate.

Origin of subserve

1610–20; <Latin subservīre, equivalent to sub-sub- + servīre to serve

Words Nearby subserve

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use subserve in a sentence

If it wasn't because I wish to observe and subserve to the law of the land, I would have killed him long ago.
The Homesteader | Oscar Micheaux
To those ignorant of letters an inscription would but ill subserve this purpose.
The Catacombs of Rome | William Henry Withrow
Let it be shown that barbarism ought not to subserve civilization.
The Right of American Slavery | True Worthy Hoit
It is just that barbarism should subserve civilization; that Wrong should subserve Right.
The Right of American Slavery | True Worthy Hoit
I answer, that it is right that barbarism should subserve civilization.
The Right of American Slavery | True Worthy Hoit

British Dictionary definitions for subserve

subserve

/ (səbˈsɜːv) /

verb(tr)

to be helpful or useful to
obsolete to be subordinate to

Origin of subserve

C17: from Latin subservīre to be subject to, from sub- + servīre to serve

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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