Service
/ˈsɜːrvɪs/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounWork done to help someone or meet a need.
nounA system or business that provides something people use.
Extra definitions
noun; verbWork done to help others.
noun; verbA system supplying a public need.
noun; verbMaintenance or repair work.
Sentence Examples
The hotel offers excellent service.
The bus service stops at midnight.
The car needs a service.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
None
Antonyms:
None
Word Origin & History
From Middle English servise, from Old English serfis, 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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
“The Parliament for ever cries more money, / The service of the state demands more money. / Just heaven! of what service is the state?”
— 1794, Robert Southey, Wat Tyler. A Dramatic Poem. In Three Acts, London: J[ohn] M‘Creery, […] for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […], published 1817, →OCLC, Act I, page 7:
“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.”
— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The hotel offers excellent ____.