Dictionary

subserve en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /səbˈsɚv/ (US)
• /səbˈsɜːv/ (UK)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin subservire; by surface analysis, sub- + serve.

Meanings

1. To be subservient to.
   • Ah, if only he had asked her to subserve him, to be his slave! 1921, DH Lawrence, Women in Love, Vintage, published 2008, page 288:
2. To serve to promote (an end); to be useful to.
   • '[…] Human laws we respect—ha, ha!—you and I, because they subserve our convenience, and just so long. When they tend to our destruction, 'tis, of course, another thing.' 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
   • Their principles will cease to be dear to them, whenever they shall cease to subserve the purposes of good order. 1840, Abel Upshur, A Brief Enquiry into the Nature and Character of our Federal Government, Campbell, page 69:
   • Calculating by spherical trigonometry, and assuming the same obliquity, I obtain 3 dundas and 40 pulas for the ascensional arc, giving a difference in time of 3 pulas, or about one of our minutes; an error so small, that even were the Indian astronomer aware of its existence he would disregard it, satisfied that the practical purposes which his labours subserve, are, notwithstanding, carried out with sufficient accuracy. 1839 October, J.J. Middleton, “Description of an Astronomical Instrument presented by Raja Ram Sing, of Khota, to the Government of India”, in Journal of the Asiatic Society, volume 8, number 94, page 837:
3. To assist in carrying out.
   • The unlearned capacities that underpin language acquisition constitute a uniquely human complex of non-linguistic dispositions and mechanisms that also subserve other cognitive functions. 2011 September 21, Barbara C. Scholz, Francis Jeffry Pelletier, Geoffrey K. Pullum, Ryan Nefdt, “Philosophy of Linguistics”, in Edward N. Zalta, Uri Nodelman, editors, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, →ISSN, retrieved 18 Jun 2025:
   • 'Tis a greater credit to know the ways of captivating Nature, and making her subserve our purposes, than to have learnt all the intrigues of policy. 1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC:

Forms

Relateds

subservient

Translations (2)

lt pasitarnauti (to serve to promote (an end); to be useful to) · lt pasitarnauti (to assist in carrying out)