. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
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)
- 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: 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[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC: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.
- The state of being subordinate to or employed by an individual or group.
Lancelot was at the service of King Arthur.
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XX, page 33:The lesser griefs that may be said, / That breathe a thousand tender vows, / Are but as servants in a house / Where lies the master newly dead; / Who speak their feeling as it is, / And weep the fulness from the mind: / ‘It will be hard’ they say ‘to find / Another service such as this.’
- Work as a member of the military.
Thank you for your service.
- (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.
- (business) Synonym of utility (“commodity provided on a continuous basis by a physical infrastructure network, such as electricity, water supply or sewerage”).
- A department in a company, organization, or institution.
- (computing) A function that is provided by one program or machine for another.
This machine provides the name service for the LAN.
- The military.
I did three years in the service before coming here.
- A set of dishes or utensils.
She brought out the silver tea service.
- (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.
- 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.
- (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.
- (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.
- A musical composition for use in churches.
- (obsolete) Profession of respect; acknowledgment of duty owed.
1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Pray, do my service to his majesty.
- (nautical) The materials used for serving a rope, etc., such as spun yarn and small lines.
- 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
- (antonym(s) of "economics"): capital
Hyponyms
Coordinate terms
- (economics, business): good
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
act of being of assistance to someone
practice of providing services as economic activity
- Afrikaans: diens (af)
- Albanian: shërbim (sq) m
- Arabic: خِدْمَة f (ḵidma)
- Armenian: ծառայություն (hy) (caṙayutʻyun)
- Assamese: সেৱা (xewa)
- Azerbaijani: xidmət (az)
- Bashkir: хеҙмәт (xeźmət)
- Belarusian: слу́жба f (slúžba), абслуго́ўванне n (absluhóŭvannje), се́рвіс m (sjérvis)
- Bulgarian: слу́жба (bg) f (slúžba)
- Catalan: servei (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 服務/服务 (zh) (fúwù)
- Czech: práce (cs) f, služba (cs) f
- Danish: tjeneste (da) c, service (da) c
- Dutch: dienst (nl) m, bediening (nl) f
- Esperanto: servo
- Estonian: teenus
- Finnish: palvelu (fi)
- French: service (fr) m
- Galician: servizo (gl) m
- Georgian: სერვისი (ka) (servisi), მომსახურება (momsaxureba), სამსახური (samsaxuri)
- German: Dienstleistung (de) f, Bedienung (de) f, Service (de) m
- Greek: υπηρεσία (el) f (ypiresía)
- Ancient: διακονία f (diakonía)
- Haitian Creole: sèvis
- Hebrew: שירות \ שֵׁרוּת (he) m (sheirút)
- Hindi: सेवा (hi) m (sevā), सर्विस (hi) f (sarvis), ख़िदमत f (xidmat)
- Hungarian: szolgálat (hu), szolgáltatás (hu), üzemelés (hu), működés (hu), járat (hu), kiszolgálás (hu), felszolgálás (hu)
- Icelandic: þjónusta (is) f
- Indonesian: jawa (id)
- Interlingua: servicio m
- Irish: feidhmeannas m
- Italian: servizio (it) m
- Japanese: 業務 (ja) (ぎょうむ, gyōmu), 務め (ja) (つとめ, tsutome), サービス (ja) (sābisu), 奉公 (ja) (ほうこう, hōkō), 服務 (ja) (ふくむ, fukumu), 用役 (ja) (ようえき, yōeki)
- Kazakh: қызмет (qyzmet)
- Khmer: សេវា (seevaa)
- Korean: 봉사(奉仕) (ko) (bongsa), 서비스 (ko) (seobiseu), 용역(用役) (ko) (yong'yeok), 복무(服務) (ko) (bongmu)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: خزمەت (xizmet)
- Northern Kurdish: xizmet (ku), xidmet (ku)
- Kyrgyz: кызмат (ky) (kızmat)
- Lao: ບໍຣິການ (bǭ ri kān), ບໍລິການ (bǭ li kān)
- Latin: prodessendum n
- Latvian: dienests (lv) m
- Lithuanian: tarnyba (lt) f
- Macedonian: служба f (služba)
- Malay: khidmat, perkhidmatan (ms), servis
- Maori: ratonga
- Middle English: servise
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: үйлчилгээ (mn) (üjlčilgee)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: tjeneste m
- Nynorsk: tenest f
- Occitan: servici (oc) m
- Old English: þeġnung f, þēnest f
- Pashto: خدمت (ps) m (xedmat)
- Persian: سرویس (fa) (servis), خدمت (fa) (xedmat)
- Polish: usługiwanie n, usługa (pl) f, serwis (pl) m, służba (pl) f
- Portuguese: serviço (pt) m
- Romanian: serviciu (ro) n
- Russian: слу́жба (ru) f (slúžba), обслу́живание (ru) n (obslúživanije), се́рвис (ru) m (sɛ́rvis)
- Sanskrit: सेवा (sa) f (sevā)
- Scottish Gaelic: seirbheis f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: слу̀жба f, сѐрвӣс m
- Roman: slùžba (sh) f, sèrvīs (sh) m
- Sicilian: sirbizzu m
- Slovak: obsluha f, služba f
- Slovene: služba f
- Spanish: servicio (es) m
- Swahili: huduma (sw)
- Swedish: tjänst (sv) c
- Tajik: хизмат (tg) (xizmat)
- Tatar: хезмәт (tt) (xezmät)
- Telugu: సేవ (te) (sēva)
- Thai: การบริการ (th) (gaan-bɔɔ-rí-gaan), บริการ (th) (bɔɔ-rí-gaan)
- Turkish: hizmet (tr)
- Turkmen: hyzmat
- Ukrainian: слу́жба (uk) f (slúžba), обслуго́вування (uk) n (obsluhóvuvannja), се́рвіс (uk) m (sérvis)
- Urdu: خدمت f (xidmat), سروس f (sarvis)
- Uyghur: خىزمەت (xizmet)
- Uzbek: xizmat (uz)
- Vietnamese: phục vụ (vi) (服務)
- Welsh: gweinidogaeth (cy) f
- Yiddish: דינסט m (dinst)
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commodity provided on a continuous basis by infrastructure
— see utility
department in a company, etc.
computing: function provided by one program or machine for another
state of being subordinate or employed
set of dishes or utensils
sports: act of initially serving the ball
legal: delivery of a summons or writ
musical composition for use in churches
profession of respect; acknowledgment of duty owed
nautical: materials used for serving a rope
Verb
service (third-person singular simple present services, present participle servicing, simple past and past participle serviced)
- (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?, 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.
- (transitive) To perform maintenance.
1980 August 30, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 6, page 14:2 GWM businessmen seek young GM to service nice small country home in So. NH
He is going to service the car.
- (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.
- (transitive, agriculture, euphemistic) To inseminate through sexual intercourse.
- (transitive, vulgar) To perform a sexual act upon.
He serviced her several times a week.
- (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)
- Service tree.
- The sorb; the fruit of this tree.
Translations
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from English service.
Pronunciation
Noun
service f or m (plural services)
- service
- after-sales
French
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)
- 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
- (tennis) service
- (Switzerland, in the plural) cutlery
- set (collection of objects)
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
Interjection
service
- (Switzerland) you're welcome
Further reading
Anagrams
Middle English
Noun
service
- Alternative form of servise
Norman
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old French servise, (compare French service), borrowed from Latin servitium, from servus.
Noun
service m (plural services)
- (Guernsey) service
Old French
Noun
service oblique singular, m (oblique plural services, nominative singular services, nominative plural service)
- Alternative form of servise
Romanian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English service.
Noun
service n (plural service-uri)
- service
Declension
Swedish
Pronunciation
Noun
service c
- service, the level of comfort offered by assistants and servants (the opposite of self-service)
- maintenance and repair
min bil är inne på service- my car is at the workshop
Declension
Declension of service
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Uncountable
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Indefinite
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Definite
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Nominative
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service
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servicen
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Genitive
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service
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servicens
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Related terms
See also