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service definition

Overview

This page has 40 definitions of service with English translations in 7 languages. Service is a noun, verb and interjection. Examples of how to use service in a sentence are shown. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .

See also: Service and sèrvice

English service definition

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English servise, from Old French servise (French service), from the verb servir, from Latin servitium (compare Portuguese serviço, Italian servizio, Norman sèrvice, Spanish servicio), from servus (“servant; serf; slave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo-s (“guardian”), possibly from *ser- (“watch over, protect”). Displaced native Old English þeġnung.

Noun

service (countable and uncountable, plural services)

  1. An act of being of assistance to someone.
    I say I did him a service by ending our relationship – now he can freely pursue his career.
    • 1794, Robert Southey, Wat Tyler. A Dramatic Poem. In Three Acts, London: […] [J. M‘Creery] for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […], published 1817, →OCLC, Act I, page 7:
      The Parliament for ever cries more money, / The service of the state demands more money. / Just heaven! of what service is the state?
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.
  2. The state of being subordinate to or employed by an individual or group.
    Lancelot was at the service of King Arthur.
  3. Work as a member of the military.
    Thank you for your service.
  4. (economics) The practice of providing assistance as economic activity.
    Hair care is a service industry.
    • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:
      The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",[...]and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
  5. (business) Synonym of utility (“commodity provided on a continuous basis by a physical infrastructure network, such as electricity, water supply or sewerage”).
  6. A department in a company, organization, or institution.
  7. (computing) A function that is provided by one program or machine for another.
    This machine provides the name service for the LAN.
  8. The military.
    I did three years in the service before coming here.
  9. A set of dishes or utensils.
    She brought out the silver tea service.
  10. (sports) The act of initially starting, or serving, the ball in play in tennis, volleyball, and other games.
    The player had four service faults in the set.
  11. A religious rite or ritual.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
    The funeral service was touching.
  12. (law) The serving, or delivery, of a summons or writ.
    • 1668 July 3, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 548:
      He Suſpends on theſe Reaſons, that Thomas Rue had granted a general Diſcharge to Adam Muſhet, who was his Conjunct, and correus debendi, after the alleadged Service, which Diſcharged Muſhet, and conſequently Houstoun his Partner.
    The service happened yesterday.
  13. (Israel, West Bank, also in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) A taxi shared among unrelated passengers, each of whom pays part of the fare; often, it has a fixed route between cities.
  14. A musical composition for use in churches.
  15. (obsolete) Profession of respect; acknowledgment of duty owed.
  16. (nautical) The materials used for serving a rope, etc., such as spun yarn and small lines.
  17. Access to resources such as hotel rooms and Web-based videos without transfer of the resources' ownership.
Usage notes

In British English, the indefinite article "a" is often used with “good service”, as in "A good service is operating on all London Underground lines", whereas this is not used in American English.

Antonyms
  • (action or work that is produced and consumed): good
  • capital
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
commodity provided on a continuous basis by infrastructure — see utility

Verb

service (third-person singular simple present services, present participle servicing, simple past and past participle serviced)

  1. (transitive) To serve.
    They service the customer base.
    • 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 28:07 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎[1], archived from the original on 3 November 2022:
      The USS Manila Bay, in the next group south of Taffy 3, services aircraft from eleven different squadrons that aren't attached to her own flight group, and, at one point, has representatives from no less than four other carriers' airgroups on her flight deck at the same time.
    1. (transitive) To perform maintenance.
      He is going to service the car.
    2. (public relations, transitive) To supply (media outlets) with press releases etc.
      • 1977, Patricia Marshall, Citizen Participation Certification for Community Development, page 107:
        One obvious way is press releases, which should be sent to your region's reporters, editors and columnists, the wire services, professional publications. […] Servicing the media should be an everyday thing.
      • 1971, College and University Journal, volumes 10-11, page 9:
        […] instead of expending so much of their PR effort on servicing the media.
  2. (transitive, agriculture, euphemistic) To inseminate through sexual intercourse.
  3. (transitive, vulgar) To perform a sexual act upon.
    He serviced her several times a week.
  4. (transitive, military, euphemistic) To attack.
    to service a target; target servicing
Synonyms
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations

Etymology 2

Properly, the tree that bears sorb fruit, from Middle English serves, plural of serve (“sorb apple, serviceberry”), from Old English syrfe, from Vulgar Latin *sorbea, from Latin sorbus (“service tree”). See sorb.

Noun

service (plural services)

  2. Service tree.
  4. The sorb; the fruit of this tree.
Translations
service tree — see service tree

Anagrams

Dutch service definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English service.

Pronunciation

  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: ser‧vice

Noun

service f or m (plural services)

  1. service
  2. after-sales

French service definition

Etymology

Inherited from Old French servise, borrowed from Latin servitium (compare Portuguese serviço, Italian servizio, Norman sèrvice, Spanish servicio), from servus.

Pronunciation

Noun

service m (plural services)

  1. service
    Cet employé a obtenu sa retraite après trente années de service. ― This employee retired after thirty years of service.
    être d’un bon service ― to be of good service
  2. (tennis) service
  3. (Switzerland, in the plural) cutlery
  4. set (collection of objects)

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Interjection

service

  1. (Switzerland) you're welcome

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle English service definition

Noun

service

  1. Alternative form of servise

Norman service definition

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old French servise, (compare French service), borrowed from Latin servitium, from servus.

Noun

service m (plural services)

  1. (Guernsey) service

Old French service definition

Noun

service m (oblique plural services, nominative singular services, nominative plural service)

  1. Alternative form of servise

Romanian service definition

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English service.

Noun

service n (plural service-uri)

  1. service

Declension

Declension of service
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) service serviceul (niște) service-uri service-urile
genitive/dative (unui) service serviceului (unor) service-uri service-urilor
vocative serviceule service-urilor

Swedish service definition

Pronunciation

Noun

service c

  1. service, the level of comfort offered by assistants and servants (the opposite of self-service)
  2. maintenance and repair
    min bil är inne på service
    my car is at the workshop

Declension

Declension of service 
Uncountable
Indefinite Definite
Nominative service servicen — —
Genitive service servicens — —

Related terms

  • fullservice
  • kundservice
  • serva
  • serviceverkstad

See also

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