serve two masters
serve two masters verb: to take orders from two superiors or two conflicting parties.
Verb
serve two masters (third-person singular simple present serves two masters, present participle serving two masters, simple past and past participle served two masters)
- To take orders from two superiors or two conflicting parties.
- I suspect that Mr Paisley would have been familiar with the biblical quotation: "No man can serve two masters - you cannot serve God and Mammon" (Matthew 6 v 24).2017 September 1, “Paisley faltered in bid to serve two masters”, in Belfast Telegraph
Forms of serve two masters
| third-person singular present | serves two masters |
|---|---|
| present participle | serving two masters |
| past participle | served two masters |
| past | served two masters |
Origin of serve two masters
From Matthew 6:24 in the Bible.
Questions about serve two masters
- What does serve two masters mean?
- Serve two masters means to take orders from two superiors or two conflicting parties.
- What part of speech is serve two masters?
- Serve two masters is a verb.
- What is the past tense of serve two masters?
- The past tense of serve two masters is served two masters.
Words near serve two masters in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: serve two masters (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-serve two masters.ogg.
Cite this entry: “serve two masters.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/serve_two_masters. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.