to serve

Examples

• All

• After getting caught for theft, he had to serve five years in prison as punishment.

• I served some hard time in this place.

  Lock Up (1989)

• And if someone found out I served years in prison.

  Zane and Heath: UNFILTERED

• And how long did he serve and where is he now?

• The judge told him he would need to serve a year or pay a ridiculous balance.

  Academic text (2017)

• A prisoner now must serve before he or she can apply for parole.

  Triggernometry

• So I'm already serving eight years for burglary.

  Liam Tuffs

• We see by your file that you've served twenty years of a life sentence.

  Fiction book (1994)

• - Brandon Stone, you've served 10 years of a 25 year sentence for manslaughter.

  Lord of the Streets (2022)

• In January 1895, Debs began serving his term at the McHenry County Jail out in Woodstock.

  Fiction book (1993)

Synonyms

D

to do

vsto serve

• Informal

∞ 8.2

Spend time in prison as punishment

is the neutral or formal expression rather than casual slang

S

to serve time

vsto serve

35 6.7

To spend time in prison as punishment for a crime

is the broader term covering prison or labor camp sentences

P

to pay one's debt to society

vsto serve

5 7.1

To serve the punishment for a crime, often by going to prison

is about spending prison or camp time without moral wording

Antonyms

R

release

279 1.8

An act of letting someone or something go free from being held

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 Long

life imprisonment

• Formal

15 4.7

to serve

306 7.5

to do

• Informal

∞ 8.2

detainment

7 6.7

Surface Forms

Etymology