serves
- 1Third-person singular simple present indicative of serve.
This small bakery serves fresh bread to the whole neighborhood.
He serves on the city council alongside two former mayors.
Note
The present-tense form that goes with he, she, it or any singular noun: the bakery serves, the council member serves. With I, you, we and they, the bare form serve is used instead. One spelling covers both sides of the verb. It is transitive when something is served (serves bread) and intransitive when someone holds a role (serves on a council). It also looks exactly like the plural of the noun, so the sentence decides which is meant.
- 2Plural of serve.
His powerful serves dominated the opening set of the match.
Most of her second serves landed deep in the service box.
Note
Most often this plural counts strokes in sport: serves are the shots that put a ball or shuttlecock in play, so a player's serves can clear the net, miss it, or win the set. In Australian English the plural also counts portions of food (six serves of dessert), where the more general word is servings. Outside sport, servings is the safer choice unless you are writing for Australian readers.
Showing meanings only.
serves is a form of serve
serve, verb: To do the duties of a job, office, or public role, such as holding office or sitting on a jury. Full entry
- Spelling
- serve → serves: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with serves, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.