Word.ws English Dictionary

serve the turn

serve the turn verb: to suffice for one's immediate purpose or need.

Verb

serve the turn (third-person singular simple present serves the turn, present participle serving the turn, simple past and past participle served the turn)

  1. (dated, idiomatic) To suffice for one's immediate purpose or need.

Forms of serve the turn

third-person singular presentserves the turn
present participleserving the turn
past participleserved the turn
pastserved the turn

Questions about serve the turn

What does serve the turn mean?
Serve the turn means to suffice for one's immediate purpose or need.
What part of speech is serve the turn?
Serve the turn is a verb.
What is the past tense of serve the turn?
The past tense of serve the turn is served the turn.

Words near serve the turn in the dictionary

  1. serve someone a trick
  2. serve someone right
  3. serve someone the same sauce
  4. serve someone with the same sauce
  5. serve the time
  6. serve the turn
  7. serve time
  8. serve two masters
  9. serve up
  10. serve with the colors
  11. serve with the colours

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: serve the turn (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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