SERVICE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Service mean? 

• SERVICE (noun)
  The noun SERVICE has 15 senses:

1. work done by one person or group that benefits another

2. an act of help or assistance

3. the act of public worship following prescribed rules

4. a company or agency that performs a public service; subject to government regulation

5. employment in or work for another

6. a force that is a branch of the armed forces

7. Canadian writer (born in England) who wrote about life in the Yukon Territory (1874-1958)

8. a means of serving

9. tableware consisting of a complete set of articles (silver or dishware) for use at table

10. the act of mating by male animals

11. (law) the acts performed by an English feudal tenant for the benefit of his lord which formed the consideration for the property granted to him

12. (sports) a stroke that puts the ball in play

13. the act of delivering a writ or summons upon someone

14. periodic maintenance on a car or machine

15. the performance of duties by a waiter or servant

  Familiarity information: SERVICE used as a noun is familiar.

• SERVICE (verb)
  The verb SERVICE has 3 senses:

1. be used by; as of a utility

2. make fit for use

3. mate with

  Familiarity information: SERVICE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SERVICE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Work done by one person or group that benefits another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

budget separately for goods and services

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

work (activity directed toward making or doing something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "service"):

consulting service (service provided by a professional advisor (e.g., a lawyer or doctor or CPA etc.))

facility (a service that an organization or a piece of equipment offers you)

national service (compulsory service in the military during peacetime)

utility (the service (electric power or water or transportation) provided by a public utility)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An act of help or assistance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he did them a service

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

aid; assist; assistance; help (the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "service"):

child care; childcare (a service involving care for other people's children)

community service (an unpaid service for the benefit of the public that is performed by lawbreakers as part (or all) of their sentence)

community service; public service (a service that is performed for the benefit of the public or its institutions)

help desk; helpdesk (a service that provides information and assistance to the users of a computer network)

seating (the service of ushering people to their seats)

Antonym:

disservice (an act intended to help that turns out badly)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of public worship following prescribed rules

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

divine service; religious service; service

Context example:

the Sunday service

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

religious ceremony; religious ritual (a ceremony having religious meaning)

Meronyms (parts of "service"):

invocation; supplication (a prayer asking God's help as part of a religious service)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "service"):

watch night (a devotional service (especially on New Year's Eve))

vesper (a late afternoon or evening worship service)

none (a service in the Roman Catholic Church formerly read or chanted at 3 PM (the ninth hour counting from sunrise) but now somewhat earlier)

committal service (service committing a body to the grave)

prayer meeting; prayer service (a service at which people sing hymns and pray together)

devotional (a short religious service)

church; church service (a service conducted in a house of worship)

chapel; chapel service (a service conducted in a place of worship that has its own altar)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A company or agency that performs a public service; subject to government regulation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

company (an institution created to conduct business)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "service"):

public-service corporation; public utility; public utility company; utility (a company that performs a public service; subject to government regulation)

Derivation:

service (be used by; as of a utility)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Employment in or work for another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he retired after 30 years of service

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

employment; work (the occupation for which you are paid)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A force that is a branch of the armed forces

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

armed service; military service; service

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

force; personnel (group of people willing to obey orders)

Meronyms (members of "service"):

force; military force; military group; military unit (a unit that is part of some military service)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "service"):

army; ground forces; regular army (a permanent organization of the military land forces of a nation or state)

naval forces; navy (an organization of military vessels belonging to a country and available for sea warfare)

coastguard (a military service responsible for the safety of maritime traffic in coastal waters)

Marines (members of a body of troops trained to serve on land or at sea)

air force; airforce (the airborne branch of a country's armed forces)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Canadian writer (born in England) who wrote about life in the Yukon Territory (1874-1958)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Robert William Service; Service

Instance hypernyms:

author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))

Sense 8

Meaning:

A means of serving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

avail; help; service

Context example:

there's no help for it

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

helpfulness (the property of providing useful assistance)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Tableware consisting of a complete set of articles (silver or dishware) for use at table

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

service; table service

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

tableware (articles for use at the table (dishes and silverware and glassware))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "service"):

dinner service; dinner set (a table service for serving dinner)

place setting; setting (a table service for one person)

Sense 10

Meaning:

The act of mating by male animals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

service; servicing

Context example:

the bull was worth good money in servicing fees

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

conjugation; coupling; mating; pairing; sexual union; union (the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes)

Derivation:

service (mate with)

Sense 11

Meaning:

(law) the acts performed by an English feudal tenant for the benefit of his lord which formed the consideration for the property granted to him

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Domain category:

case law; common law; precedent ((civil law) a law established by following earlier judicial decisions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "service"):

socage (land tenure by agricultural service or payment of rent; not burdened with military service)

military service (land tenure by service in the lord's army)

knight's service (land tenure by service to the lord as a knight)

Sense 12

Meaning:

(sports) a stroke that puts the ball in play

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

serve; service

Context example:

his powerful serves won the game

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

tennis shot; tennis stroke (the act of hitting a tennis ball with a tennis racket)

Domain category:

squash; squash rackets; squash racquets (a game played in an enclosed court by two or four players who strike the ball with long-handled rackets)

badminton (a game played on a court with light long-handled rackets used to volley a shuttlecock over a net)

lawn tennis; tennis (a game played with rackets by two or four players who hit a ball back and forth over a net that divides the court)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "service"):

ace (a serve that the receiver is unable to reach)

fault ((sports) a serve that is illegal (e.g., that lands outside the prescribed area))

let; net ball (a serve that strikes the net before falling into the receiver's court; the ball must be served again)

Sense 13

Meaning:

The act of delivering a writ or summons upon someone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

service; service of process; serving

Context example:

he accepted service of the subpoena

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

bringing; delivery (the act of delivering or distributing something (as goods or mail))

Sense 14

Meaning:

Periodic maintenance on a car or machine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

inspection and repair; overhaul; service

Context example:

it was time for an overhaul on the tractor

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

care; maintenance; upkeep (activity involved in maintaining something in good working order)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "service"):

interim overhaul (an overhaul between the regular times for overhauling)

Derivation:

service (make fit for use)

Sense 15

Meaning:

The performance of duties by a waiter or servant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

that restaurant has excellent service

Hypernyms ("service" is a kind of...):

accommodation (the act of providing something (lodging or seat or food) to meet a need)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "service"):

self-service (the practice of serving yourself (as in a grocery or cafeteria))

curb service (service provided to customers who remain in their vehicles)

valet parking (a service provided (at a club or restaurant or airport etc.) whereby a patron leaves a car at the entrance and an attendant parks and retrieves it)

• SERVICE (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be used by; as of a utility

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

serve; service

Context example:

The garage served to shelter his horses

Hypernyms (to "service" is one way to...):

function; go; operate; run; work (perform as expected when applied)

Verb group:

function; serve (serve a purpose, role, or function)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

service (a company or agency that performs a public service; subject to government regulation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make fit for use

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

the washing machine needs to be serviced

Hypernyms (to "service" is one way to...):

tune; tune up (adjust for (better) functioning)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

service (periodic maintenance on a car or machine)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Mate with

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

serve; service

Context example:

male animals serve the females for breeding purposes

Hypernyms (to "service" is one way to...):

copulate; couple; mate; pair (engage in sexual intercourse)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "service"):

stand (be available for stud services)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

service; servicing (the act of mating by male animals)

 Context examples 

Could she have been at home, she might have been of service to every creature in the house.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I gathered from their signs that someone had urgent need of my medical services, and I followed the chief to one of his huts.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Thus the Count had knowledge of the persons who could arrange this service.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

And I hope, madam, that Mr. Allen will be obliged to like the place, from finding it of service to him.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

You shall be mine: I claim you—not for my pleasure, but for my Sovereign's service.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers conduct research and provide services directly to cancer patients.

(NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, NCI Thesaurus)

The next improvement of a device, procedure, technique, or service that provides a significant improvement in the state of the art.

(Next-Generation Technology, NCI Thesaurus)

It is named after the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service Center (CCNSC), created in 1955, which originally ran the testing program and assigned these numbers.

(NSC Number, NCI Thesaurus)

‘At your service, sir,’ says I.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Stigma is part of the reason why mental health services are not well developed in many countries, the report said.

(Half of mental health disorders arise in adolescence, SciDev.Net)