service
/ˈsɜː.vɪs/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.49 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The state of being subordinate to or employed by an individual or group.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Synonym of utility (“commodity provided on a continuous basis by a physical infrastructure network, such as electricity, water supply or sewerage”).
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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?"
- "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."
- "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.’"
- "Thank you for your service."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ser-der.? Proto-Italic *serwos Latin servus Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin -itia Latin servitiumbor. Old French servisebor. Old English serfis Middle English servise English service 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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɜː.vɪs/
- British English: /ˈsɜː.vɪs/
Usage
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antonym(s) of