to serve

Examples

• All

• Ultimately, archivists can more effectively serve their institutions' users by knowing more about them.

  Academic text (2015)

• As for the program studied, the school is serving more students than it ever has.

  Academic text (2015)

• Skills that will serve them well throughout their life.

• Actually, all of these plants serve more than just adding beauty.

• Head Start schools provide an educational foundation but also serve physical and mental health needs.

  Academic text (2015)

• We can serve our weakness, or we can serve our purpose.

  Cabrini (2024)

• As with other certification programs, the fellowship serves educational and marketing purposes for its members.

  Academic text (2017)

• The library website is designed, or should be, to serve the library's patrons, not the staff.

  Academic text (2015)

• The new software is designed to serve as a tool for better project management.

• This initiative aims to serve the community by providing free educational resources.

Synonyms

D

to do

vsto serve

∞ 1.0

Be enough for what is needed

is broader, also meaning fulfill a role or help cause outcomes

F

to function

vsto serve

441 2.6

To work in a particular role or job

is used more generally to help or fulfill various purposes

A

to act

vsto serve

279 1.0

Have an effect or work in a certain way

is about fulfilling a role more permanently or generally

A

to act as

vsto serve

199 2.6

Serve in the role of a person or thing

is used to indicate general purpose rather than specific role

S

to suffice

vsto serve

99 4.7

To be enough for what is needed

includes doing a function or helping bring about a result beyond mere adequacy

A

to answer

vsto serve

26 3.5

To be enough to meet a need or purpose

covers use for purpose but also helping achieve results beyond matching needs

S

to subserve

vsto serve

• Formal

1 9.9

To help achieve a goal or plan

focuses more on directly fulfilling or occupying a role rather than merely aiding

Antonyms

H

to hinder

75 3.6

To make it difficult for people or things to do something

Idioms

S

to serve (someone) right

• Informal

22 7.3

A punishment that someone deserves because of their own wrong actions

S

to serve two masters

4 8.2

To try to please two people or groups who want different things and fail to please either

S

to serve someone right

• Informal

3 6.6

To get a bad result you deserve because of what you did

S

to serve the turn

• UK

1 7.9

To be good enough for a purpose for a short time

S

to serve in good stead

7.0

To be useful to someone in the future

Phrasal Verbs

S

to serve time

35 6.7

To spend time in prison as punishment for a crime

S

to serve up

34 1.4

To give food or drink to people

S

to serve alcohol

7 3.0

Provide alcohol to customers or guests

S

to serve notice

• Formal

5 6.5

To give someone an official written letter telling them about a change or end of an agreement

S

to serve well

3 3.5

Be useful to someone when they need it

S

to serve in the army

3 3.2

To be a member of a country's army for work or because the law makes you

S

to serve as a backdrop

1 4.6

To form a background that makes the main subject look better

S

to serve as a conduit

1 7.5

Act as a way to pass information between groups

D

to drop one's serve

• Jargon

6.9

Lose a game in tennis when you are the player who starts the point

S

to serve as an escort

• Formal

4.1

To go with a person like an ambassador to protect or show respect

Compounds

B

break of serve

• Jargon

5.1

A game one player wins while the opponent is serving

F

first-come-first-serve

• US

3.9

People get things in the order they arrive, with no reservations

How Useful

to serve

∞ 1.8

to contribute

883 2.7

Surface Forms

Etymology