selective service
- noun
- /sɪˈlɛktɪv ˈsɜrvɪs/
- Formal
:
servicio selectivo
- Selective Service, whose concern was to field an American Army, was oblivious to the dispute, though military intelligence paid attention to it because of the appearance of pro-German sympathy within KON.
Examples
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It also regularly reviewed legislation, including selective service and prohibition, and met with politicians to influence the legislative process.
Academic text (1991) -
Military Intelligence had already worked out a procedure with him to forestall violations of Selective Service regulations.
Academic text (1991) -
Selective Service responded to protests over classification by directing the correspondents to the Slavic Legion.
Academic text (1991) -
As late as August, military intelligence supplied the Provost Marshal General with two tables of Polish-American population statistics based on the 1910 census in order to help Selective Service plan for the Slavic Legion.
Academic text (1991) -
In the United States, young men must register for the selective service when they turn 18.
-
The selective service system requires individuals to serve in the military if they are chosen.
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Many citizens debate whether the selective service should include women as well as men.
Synonyms
216
6.1
A government rule that makes people serve in the army
7
8.2
A system that by law makes people serve in the military
6
4.1
A fixed time when citizens must join the armed forces
2
7.6
A United States government agency that registers people for required military service
1
5.4
A US government agency that registers men for possible military service
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines the adjective 'selective' (choosing specific people) with 'service' (military service), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes a system that selects people for military service. The composition follows a regular adjective+ noun pattern and is cross-linguistically plausible; while specific legal details (registration, mandatory aspects) are institutional, the core meaning is directly derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Selective service comes from the idea of a system that selects people to serve in the military, like a board or a lottery that picks names to join the army. So it means a law that makes some people 'serve' in the armed forces.