serving

1. 1.

   an individual quantity of food or drink taken as part of a meal

   “the helpings were all small”

   “his portion was larger than hers”

   “there's enough for two servings each”

   Synonymshelpingportion

   Broadersmall indefinite quantity

   Narrowerdrumsticksecond jointbreastwingmedallionoysterparson's nosepiecerounddrink

   Part ofmeal

   Partstaste
2. 2.

   the act of delivering a writ or summons upon someone

   “he accepted service of the subpoena”

   Synonymsserviceservice of process

   Broaderdelivery

Other forms of serving

plural

servings·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about serving

What does serving mean?

serving means "an individual quantity of food or drink taken as part of a meal". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in serving?

serving has 2 syllables: ser-ving. The stress falls on "ser". In IPA it is /ˈsɝvɪŋ/.

What is another word for serving?

Close synonyms include helping, portion, service, service of process. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is serving a common word?

serving is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.