Meaning of service in English

service

noun

/ˈsɜː.vɪs/ us

/ˈsɝː.vɪs/

service noun (PUBLIC NEED)

a government system or private organization that is responsible for a particular type of activity, or for providing a particular thing that people need:

the postal service

US the National Park Service

UK the National Health Service

UK the ambulance/prison service

I've worked in public health services throughout my career.

B1 [ C or U ]

the fact that a system is working:

There is a very limited bus service on Sundays.

operate a service We hope to be operating a normal service as soon as possible.

services [ plural ] UK

a place at the side of a large road at which fuel, food, drink, and other things that people want on their journey are sold:

We stopped at the services to get fuel.

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the intelligence service
the probation service
the British secret service
the prison service

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Society - general words

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Using and misusing

service noun (DEALING WITH CUSTOMER)

B1 [ U ]

the act of dealing with customers in a shop, restaurant, or hotel by taking their orders, showing or selling them goods, etc.:

The only trouble with this café is that the service is so slow.

good service You should leave a generous tip to reward good service.

B2 [ U ]

an amount of money charged for serving a customer in a restaurant, often paid directly to the waiter:

service charge There is a ten percent service charge included in the bill.

More examplesFewer examples

If the service was so bad why didn't you complain to the manager?
The food was bad and the service was dreadful.
It really annoys me when people expect me to tip as well as pay a service charge in a restaurant.
Restaurant-goers ought to complain more about bad food and service.
Tax and service are included in the bill.

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Selling

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Costs & expenses

service noun (WORK)

C1 [ C or U ]

work that someone does or time that someone spends working for an organization:

community service These teenagers all do community service in their free time.

public service She was given the award for a lifetime of public service.

service on Service on a jury may be deferred for health reasons.

[ C ]

a business that offers a particular type of help or work:

babysitting service Why don't you call the babysitting service?

laundry/ironing service Guests may take advantage of free internet access and a reasonably priced laundry/ironing service.

B2 [ C ]

a government department that is responsible for a particular area of activity:

the diplomatic service

the security services

services [ plural ] formal

the particular skills that someone has and can offer to others:

the services of I may be needing the services of a surveyor soon, as I'm buying a house.

in service

in use:

The battleship has been in service since 1965.

be in service UK old-fashioned

to be employed as a servant:

Her mother was in service.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Working hours

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Enterprises

UK politics: government departments & organizations

service noun (ARMED FORCES)

B2 [ C or U ]

(work in) the armed forces:

in the service He joined the air force in 1964 and spent ten years in the service.

military service All men under 35 were told to report for military service.

Service personnel are subject to the Official Secrets Act.

the services B2 [ plural ]

the army, navy, and/or air force:

a career in the services

on active service mainly UK (also mainly US in active service)

fighting in a war:

He was the first member of his regiment to die while on active service.

More examplesFewer examples

He did his military service after leaving college.
He joined the army on leaving school and spend the next 20 years in the service.

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The armed forces generally

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service noun (RELIGIOUS CEREMONY)

[ C ]

a formal religious ceremony:

memorial service is held A memorial service is being held on Sunday for victims of the explosion.

More examplesFewer examples

a church service
a remembrance service
a funeral service
a marriage service

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Religious ceremonies & prayers

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service noun (IN SPORTS)

in sports such as tennis, the act of hitting the ball to the other player to start play:

She has a very fast service.

Synonym

serve

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Tennis & racket sports

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service noun (ON TABLE)

[ C ]

a set of objects such as plates, cups, or other things that are used in providing and eating food:

a 24-piece dinner service

a tea service

Woraphon Nusen/EyeEm/GettyImages

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Dishes, bowls, cups & glasses

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service noun (REPAIR)

[ C ] mainly UK

a check and repair of a vehicle or machine that is done after regular periods:

She took the car in for a service yesterday.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Engineering - mechanical

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Correcting and mending

Idioms

be of service (to someone)

do someone a service

service

verb [ T ]

/ˈsɜː.vɪs/ us

/ˈsɝː.vɪs/

service verb [T] (MACHINE)

to examine a machine and repair any damaged parts:

I'm taking the car in to have it serviced this afternoon.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to repair something

repairHe asked if she could repair the broken lamp.
fixI must get my bike fixed.
mendCan you mend that hole in my trousers?
do upNick loves doing up old cars.
serviceI'm taking the car to the garage to have it serviced this afternoon.
patch upI patched up the old bike and got it working.

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Engineering - mechanical

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Correcting and mending

service verb [T] (DEBT)

to make payments to pay back a debt:

The country is still spending $3 million a week servicing debt.

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Borrowing & lending

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service verb [T] (PROVIDE SERVICES)

to provide services to or for someone:

We're quite happy to service our customers wherever they are.

Together they service 46 buildings, including 37 schools.

to provide transport, communications, etc. systems in an area:

Wembley stadium is serviced by Wembley Stadium, Wembley Park and Wembley Central stations.

The village is small, unspoilt and well serviced.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Giving, providing and supplying

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Related word

servicing

(Definition of service from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

service | American Dictionary

service

noun

/ˈsɜr·vɪs/

service noun (HELP)

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[ U ]

the help provided to a customer by someone who works in esp. a restaurant or store:

The service in this restaurant is terrible – I’ve been waiting fifteen minutes.

service noun (WORK)

work done or help provided, esp. for the public or for a person or an organization:

[ U ] She was given the award for a lifetime of public service.

[ U ] The airplane had been in service (= used) for fifteen years.

[ pl ] You should have the services of a lawyer.

service noun (SYSTEM)

[ C/U ]

a system, organization, or business that provides for a public need, or the operation of such a system:

[ C ] the diplomatic/postal service

[ C ] medical/social services

[ U ] There is bus service to Newark Airport every twenty minutes.

[ C/U ]

A service is a business that provides something for people but does not produce goods:

[ U ] My brother runs a car service (= business that rents cars with drivers).

[ C/U ]

The service is the armed forces:

[ U ] He spent ten years in the service.

service noun (RELIGIOUS CEREMONY)

[ C ]

a formal religious ceremony

service noun (EMPLOYMENT)

[ U ]

work done for others, such as cleaning or repairing, caring for a building, or making deliveries:

This building has five service employees including the super.

[ U ]

A service entrance is an entrance to a building that is used for deliveries.

service noun (BALL HIT)

[ U ]

the act of hitting a ball to put it in play in tennis and some other sports

service

verb [ T ]

/ˈsɜr·vəs/

service verb [T] (REPAIR)

to examine a machine and repair any parts that are not working:

I’m taking the car in to have it serviced this afternoon.

(Definition of service from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

service | Business English

service

noun

/ˈsɜːvɪs/ us

Add to word list Add to word list

[ C or U ] COMMERCE

business activity that involves doing things for customers rather than producing goods, or a single act of doing something for a customer:

The bank was the first to offer 24-hour telephone banking service.

We haven't actively promoted the email service because we have to be sure we can meet demand.

These days there are service jobs that no one ever dreamed about in the 1950s.

GDP is a measure of an economy's output of goods and services.

The goal is to increase customer loyalty by providing customized products and services.

offer/provide a service Career consultants offer numerous services, including résumé polishing.

service for sb/sth We provide an internet service for lawyers.

[ C ] GOVERNMENT

a system or organization that provides something important that the public needs:

the ambulance/health/postal, etc. service

The planners have to investigate what local services are available including transport, housing, and schooling for employees' children.

[ C ] GOVERNMENT

a government department that is responsible for a particular area or activity:

The immigration service has won an important victory in the courts.

[ C or U ] TRANSPORT

a system of buses, trains, aircraft, etc. that travel between particular places:

Passenger traffic registered a sharp rise thanks to the opening of a new ferry service from Liverpool to Dublin.

The 18:43 service to Liverpool has been cancelled.

Commercial air service is ready to resume today.

[ U ] COMMERCE

the way that employees of a business, store, etc. deal with customers, especially how quickly and effectively they do this:

level/quality/standard of service We constantly seek to improve the quality of service we give to our customers.

good/excellent/poor service

provide/give service They have provided excellent service in handling problem cases.

get/receive service It seems like you never get good service in restaurants these days.

services

[ plural ] formal

the particular skills that someone can offer to others:

You need the services of a lawyer.

offer your services (as sth) He has offered his services as a mediator in the dispute.

Until fairly recently the Law Society frowned upon solicitors advertising their services in any way.

[ C or U ] HR

the time an employee spends working for an organization, or the work they do:

British labour law gives employees rights dependent upon their length of service.

15/40, etc. years (of) service The amount of the severance payment is based on his 25 years service with the group.

Under Germany's constitution, the unions and employers' federations have the exclusive right to negotiate wages and conditions of service.

[ C ] UK

a check and repair of a vehicle or machine that is done at regular periods:

I'm taking my car in for a service.

be of service (to sb)

formal

to help someone:

Hello, how can I be of service?

in service

being used:

If we find a technology that will work, it could be in service by 2012.

Collocations with service

service

These are words often used in combination with service.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

cloud service

The connection between the mobile device and the corporate file server is established via a cloud service.

From

Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

constituent service

However, it should be noted that unlike other exchanges of personal services for political support, constituent service is a recognised formal function of legislators.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

inpatient service

A very small proportion of those in each anxiety disorder group reported inpatient service use, and a larger proportion reported consultations with non-psychiatric medical specialists.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

See all collocations with service

What is the pronunciation of service?

B1,B1,B1,B2,C1,B2,B2,B2

Translations of service

in Chinese (Traditional)

公共, 公共服務系統, 公共事業…

in Chinese (Simplified)

公共, 公共服务系统, 公共事业…

in Spanish

servicio, cargo por servicio, trabajo…

in Portuguese

serviço, serviço militar, cerimônia…

in more languages

in Marathi

in Japanese

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in Catalan

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in German

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in Urdu

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in Italian

सेवा, सेवा आकार, सैन्यदलातील नोकरी…

業務, 接客, サービス料…

hizmet, servis, bakma…

service [masculine], révision [feminine], réviser…

servei, càrrec per servei, feina…

bediening, dienst, onderhoudsbeurt…

ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட வகை செயல்பாட்டிற்கு அல்லது மக்களுக்குத் தேவையான ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட பொருளை வழங்குவதற்கு பொறுப்பான ஒரு அரசாங்க அமைப்பு அல்லது தனியார் அமைப்பு, ஒரு கடை, உணவகம் அல்லது ஹோட்டலில் உள்ள வாடிக்கையாளர்களுடன் அவர்களின் ஆர்டர்களை எடுப்பது…

(किसी विशिष्ट गतिविधि के लिए सरकारी या निजी) सेवा, सर्विस, (दुकान…

જાહેર સેવા, દુકાન, નાસ્તાગૃહ…

betjening, service, service-…

service, betjäning, hjälp…

perkhidmatan, khidmat, bekerja sebagai pembantu rumah…

die Bedienung, der Dienst, der Kundendienst…