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community service

/kəˌmjunədi ˌsʌrvəs/
/kəˈmjunɪti ˈsʌvɪs/
IPA guide

Other forms: community services

Community service is volunteer work that helps your neighborhood, town, or city. Sometimes people are required to do community service as punishment.

When you do community service, you serve your community — this could involve reading to kindergarteners, cleaning up the neighborhood park, or working at a food bank. You don't get paid for this kind of volunteer work, but it's sometimes done in exchange for school credit. Community service is occasionally required at certain workplaces, or doled out as punishment: "They were found guilty of trespassing and had to perform 100 hours of community service."

Definitions of community service
  1. noun
    a service that is performed for the benefit of the public or its institutions
    synonyms: public service
    see moresee less
    type of:
    service
    an act of help or assistance
  2. noun
    unpaid public work performed by lawbreakers as part (or all) of their sentence
    see moresee less
    type of:
    service
    an act of help or assistance
Pronunciation
US
/kəˌmjunədi ˌsʌrvəs/
UK
/kəˈmjunɪti ˈsʌvɪs/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘community service'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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