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public service

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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public service (countable and uncountable, plural public services)

  1. (countable, uncountable) A service performed for the public good.
    Hyponyms: national service; military service, non-military service
    They feel that public service is a noble calling that calls for every citizen in one way or another.
    They provide counseling as a public service.
    This has been a public service announcement from the Advertising Council.
    • 1702, Examen Miscellaneum […], Preface:
      A Hypocrite may put on the World in many specious Duties, to the Ruin of the Public, but never can be a Condidate[sic] for Fame, without doing a Public Service, a general Good ev’n by the very Hypocrisy […]
  2. (countable) A service such as health care, transport, or waste removal provided to the general public, often by the government.
    • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎[1], volume 188, number 23, page 19:
      In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. Essential public services are cut so that the rich may pay less tax. […]
  3. (countable) The organisation, department or business providing such a service.
  4. (uncountable) Government employment, especially in the civil service.
    • 1971, Lyndon Johnson, “‘I feel like I have already been here a year’”, in The Vantage Point‎[2], Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 18:
      In spite of more than three decades of public service, I knew I was an unknown quantity to many of my countrymen and to much of the world when I assumed office.
    • 2022 June 7, Meg Hillier, “Standards in Public Life”, in parliamentary debates (House of Commons)‎[3], volume 715, column 676:
      We know that there are people in much lower offices in public service who adhere to those principles without question and without problems. Does my right hon. Friend find it regrettable that the Prime Minister does not?

Derived terms

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Translations

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service provided to the general public by government or other official body

See also

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Swedish

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Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

Etymology

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Borrowed from English public service. First attested in 1979.

Noun

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public service c (uncountable)

  1. public service broadcasting, public broadcasting (broadcasting with a public service objective)
    Vi värnar public service och ger stöd för kommersiell journalistik i hela landet
    We protect public broadcasting and support commercial journalism in the whole country
    public service-avgift
    public service fee
    A tax introduced in 2019, replacing the earlier "(radio- och) tv-avgift" ((radio and) TV fee), popularly called "tv-licens" (TV license). "Public service fee" is the translation used by the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket).
    public service-företag
    public service broadcaster [company]
  2. (collectively) public service broadcasters, public broadcasters

Usage notes

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Note the hyphen in "public service-avgift" and "public service-företag." See the usage notes for särskrivning.

See also

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References

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