serve

être au service de

transitive verb

1. (do work, duty for)

a. être au service de (employer)

b. servir (country, community, public)

2. (in shop, bar, restaurant) (customer)

a. servir

She was busy serving a customer.Elle était occupée à servir un client.

3. (general)

a. servir (put on table) (food, meal, drink)

b. servir (give food to) (person)

4. (be useful for) (interests, cause, objectives)

a. servir

5. (prison term)

a. purger

He is serving a life sentence.Il purge une peine de prison à vie.

6. (apprenticeship)

a. faire

b. accomplir

intransitive verb

7. (do work, duty)

a. servir

The delegates serve for five years.Le mandat des délégués est de cinq ans.

8. (tennis)

a. servir

It's Williams to serve.C'est à Williams de servir.

noun

9. (tennis)

a. service (m)

It's your serve.C'est à toi de servir.

Collins French Electronic Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers 2023

Examples

Machine Translators

Translate had served using machine translators

See Machine Translations

Random Word

Roll the dice and learn a new word now!

Get a Word

Why use the FrenchDictionary.com dictionary?

THE BEST FRENCH-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Get More than a Translation

Get examples and pronunciations for millions of French words, English words, French phrases, and English phrases.

WRITTEN BY EXPERTS

Translate with Confidence

Access millions of accurate translations written by a team of experienced English-to-French and French-to-English translators.

FRENCH AND ENGLISH EXAMPLE SENTENCES

Learn by Example

Browse thousands of French-English example sentences throughout our dictionary.

CONNECT TO THE FRENCH-SPEAKING WORLD

Express Yourself in French

Browse nuanced French-to-English and English-to-French translations and find the word you’re looking for.

Word of the Day

l'épouvantail

FrenchDictionary.com is a new French-English dictionary, translation, and learning website.

Voir en français sur anglais.com

FEATURES

ABOUT

SOCIAL NETWORKS

Making educational experiences better for everyone.

English dictionary and learning for Spanish speakers

Spanish-English dictionary, translator, and learning

Immersive learning for 25 languages

Comprehensive resource for word definitions and usage

Essential reference for synonyms and antonyms

Adaptive learning for English vocabulary

Fast, easy, reliable language certification

Fun educational games for kids

Trusted tutors for 300+ subjects

Comprehensive K-12 personalized learning

Marketplace for millions of educator-created resources

35,000+ worksheets, games, and lesson plans