service

/ˈsɜː.vɪs/

noun 7verb 5name 2

Collocations

(noun.) system that provides sth the public needs

ADJ

emergency, essential

The hospital relies on essential services to keep operating during the night shift.

vital

The local library offers a vital service to students preparing for their exams.

available

The hotel offers a wide range of available services including room cleaning and laundry.

public | advisory, banking, counselling, financial, information, medical, news, rescue, telephone, etc.

ambulance, diplomatic, fire, foreign, health, intelligence, library, police, postal, prison, probation, prosecution, secret, security, social

The fire service arrived within minutes to help rescue the cat from the roof.

VERB + SERVICE

offer (sb), provide (sb with)

The hotel provides guests with excellent room service throughout the day and night.

operate, run | maintain | guarantee | improve

expand, extend

The hospital extended its service to include emergency care on weekends.

cut back on, run down

The hospital had to cut back on its cleaning service due to budget cuts.

suspend | axe, cut | restore

make use of, use

Many families make use of the free healthcare service in their community.

complain about

SERVICE + VERB

improve | deteriorate

SERVICE + NOUN

industry, sector

PREP

in/out of ~ (used of buses, trains, etc.)

PHRASES

goods and services

(noun.) work of serving a customer

ADJ

after-sales

The company's after-sales service helped me fix the broken printer within days.

room

We ordered breakfast from room service and it arrived within thirty minutes.

VERB + SERVICE

give (sb), offer (sb), provide (sb with)

The hotel staff always gave us excellent service during our stay last summer.

get

guarantee

The restaurant guarantees friendly service to every customer who walks through the door.

complain about

My parents complained about the slow service at the restaurant last night.

(noun.) working for a country, company, etc.

ADJ

meritorious, outstanding | faithful | long

active

My uncle spent twenty years in the military on active service before retiring.

military, national

domestic

My grandmother worked in domestic service for many years before starting her own business.

community, public | voluntary | jury

VERB + SERVICE

My father did his national service in the army when he was young.

see

My grandfather saw service in the military for over thirty years before he retired.

PREP

~ to

My grandmother devoted her entire life to service to others.

PHRASES

conditions of service

(noun.) work done for sb; help given to sb

ADJ

great, immense, invaluable, valuable | professional

VERB + SERVICE

be of, do sb, perform, render

The nurse performed an excellent service by staying late to help the patient.

offer (sb), provide (sb with)

The hotel provides guests with excellent room service throughout the day and night.

PREP

at your ~

Our gardener is at your service whenever you need help with the yard work.

~s of

My parents hired the services of a local plumber to fix the broken pipe.

~ to

Her long career in nursing brought valuable service to countless patients in the community.

(noun.) the services: the armed forces

ADJ

armed

VERB + SERVICE

go into, join

After finishing university, my brother decided to join the service and became a naval officer.

(noun.) bus, train etc.

ADJ

efficient, good, reliable | fast | frequent, regular | direct | full

limited, reduced

During the strike, the bus company had to offer a limited service to commuters.

scheduled

The train was delayed because a scheduled service had broken down earlier that morning.

bus, coach, ferry, rail, taxi, train, tram, tube, underground

VERB + SERVICE

lay on, offer (sb), provide (sb with)

The hotel offers guests excellent room service throughout the day and night.

PREP

in ~

The new train line will be in service by next summer.

out of ~

~ between

There are regular bus services between the airport and the city center.

~ from, ~ to

Definitions

noun

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.

The Parliament for ever cries more money, / The service of the state demands more money. / Just heaven! of what service is the state?

The state of being subordinate to or employed by an individual or group.

Lancelot was at the service of King Arthur.

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.

The practice of providing assistance as economic activity.

Hair care is a service industry.

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.

Synonym of utility (“commodity provided on a continuous basis by a physical infrastructure network, such as electricity, water supply or sewerage”).

verb

To serve.

They service the customer base.

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.

To serve.

He is going to service the car.

2 GWM businessmen seek young GM to service nice small country home in So. NH

To serve.

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.

[…] instead of expending so much of their PR effort on servicing the media.

To make a repayment or pay interest (on a debt).

It continues to be laden with intense debt servicing costs.

To inseminate through sexual intercourse.

noun

Service tree.

The sorb; the fruit of this tree.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — periodic maintenance on a car or machine

overhaul

noun — the act of delivering a writ or summons upon someone

serving

noun — (sports) a stroke that puts the ball in play

serve

noun — the act of mating by male animals

servicing

noun — a means of serving

verb — mate with

serve

verb — be used by

serve

Antonyms

disservice

Idioms & Phrases

lip service

Promising but empty talk; words without action or intention.

The candidate gave lip service to fixing the problems, but it is doubtful that he will do much.

yeoman's service

Arduous work, performed in a vigorous, committed manner.

Near-synonym: good job

press into service

To make someone perform a task or duty, especially one they are not prepared or willing to do; to make something serve a function, especially one it was not designed or intended for.

Anyone with basic first-aid training was pressed into service as a triage nurse after the earthquake.

Example Bank

I say I did him a service by ending our relationship – now he can freely pursue his career.

Wiktionary

The Parliament for ever cries more money, / The service of the state demands more money. / Just heaven! of what service is the state?

Wiktionary

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 glori

Wiktionary

They service the customer base.

Wiktionary

He is going to service the car.

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, service is marked as euphemistic. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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