serve up
verb
Simple meaning
To provide; deliver.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
survuhpSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɝˈvʌp
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Provide (usually but not necessarily food)
“We serve meals for the homeless.”
transitiveidiomatic
To provide; deliver; inflict; impose.
transitive
To present (food or drink) to those who will consume it; to serve.
transitivesports
To pitch, throw, serve, or kick a ball to an opponent so that it is easily hit or intercepted.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Provide (usually but not necessarily food)
Used this way, serve up is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- 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.
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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.