VocabauraVOCABAURA

serve

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To provide a service.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

surv
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɝv

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. personal

    Provide (usually but not necessarily food)

    “We serve meals for the homeless.”

  2. personal

    To provide a service (or, by extension, a product, especially food or drink).

  3. transitive

    To wait upon (someone) at table; to set food and drink in front of, to help (someone) to food, meals etc.

  4. intransitivefactive

    To render service by being a servant, worker, employee, or officeholder; to hold those roles and perform their duties.

  5. transitive

    To be a formal servant for (a god or deity); to worship in an official capacity.

  6. Promote, benefit, or be useful or beneficial to

noun

  1. chiefly australia

    A portion of food or drink, a serving.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Provide (usually but not necessarily food)

Used this way, serve is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“We serve meals for the homeless.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use serve

  • “We serve meals for the homeless.”verb
  • “The sewage plant served the neighboring communities.”verb
  • “The tree stump serves as a table.”verb

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “serve”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

serve god

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • servernounInflected form

    A person whose occupation is to serve at table (as in a restaurant).

  • servingnounInflected form

    An individual quantity of food or drink taken as part of a meal.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • serving cartnounCompound term

    A handcart for serving food.

  • serving dishnounCompound term

    A dish used for serving food.

  • serving girlnounCompound term

    A girl who is a servant.

  • serve upverbCompound term

    Provide (usually but not necessarily food).

  • serve wellverbCompound term

    Promote, benefit, or be useful or beneficial to.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • service linenounRelated term

    The back line bounding each end of a tennis or handball court.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

verb

Sense: provide (usually but not necessarily food)

wait ondish

noun

Sense: portion of food or drink or a serving

dish

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “serve” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.