Word.ws English Dictionary

unservice

unservice noun: neglect of duty; idleness; indolence; poor service.

Noun

unservice (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) neglect of duty; idleness; indolence; poor service.
    • And where you tax us for unservice, lady / I never knew a soldier yet, that could / Arrive into your favour;1624, Philip Massinger, “The Parliament of Love”, in William Gifford, editor, The Plays of Philip Massinger, published 1845, act 1, scene 5, page 152
    • He was carving a fowl at the time; and with a blade of blunt unservice made but wretched work of it.1901, Alfred Henry Lewis, Richard Croker - Volume 1, page 251
  2. Lack of work.
    • The under-mentioned districts are to be Tenaka, or secured to me by your Highness, on account of the balances due to the Soucars through my means; biz. Vodearpollam, Aleanoor, Madura, Trichinopoly, and Terooputtyl and your Highness might at the same time pass order to the Amuldars and Moostadars...1811, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Papers - Volume 8, page 99
    • The cost of preparation for teaching is large, the cost of living is large, and under present conditions there is likely to be an old age of enforced unservice.1906, Portsmouth (N.H.). Board of Instruction, Annual Report of the Board of Instruction, page 32
  3. Disservice.
    • "In fact" he says, "it would be an absolute, tangible unservice."1974, Electronics - Volume 47, page 73

Verb

unservice (third-person singular simple present unservices, present participle unservicing, simple past and past participle unserviced)

  1. To disconnect from service; to decommission.
    • […] has unserviced the appliances and has removed trash and debris before you sign.1968, The Handbook for the Military Family, page 34
    • Were appliances properly unserviced as required?1971, United States. Army. Military Traffic Management Command title=Personal property traffic management regulation - Issue 10, (Please provide the book title or journal name), pages 4-6

Examples of unservice in a sentence

  • We count the decreased unservice events since it is additive.2022, Souvik Pal, Debashis De, Rajkumar Buyya, Artificial Intelligence-based Internet of Things Systems, page 384:
  • Upon request of shipper, owner, or consignee of the goods, carrier will, subject to (2) below, service and unservice such articles as stoves, automatic washers, and dryers at origin and destination.1974, California Public Utilities Commission, General Order - Issues 136-138, page 5:

Forms of unservice

third-person singular presentunservices
present participleunservicing
past participleunserviced
pastunserviced

Origin of unservice

From un- + service.

Questions about unservice

What does unservice mean?
Unservice means neglect of duty; idleness; indolence; poor service.
How do you use unservice in a sentence?
We count the decreased unservice events since it is additive.
What part of speech is unservice?
Unservice can be a noun or a verb.

Words near unservice in the dictionary

  1. unserrated
  2. unserried
  3. Unsers
  4. unservable
  5. unserved
  6. unservice
  7. unserviceability
  8. unserviceable
  9. unserviceableness
  10. unserviceably
  11. unserviced

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unservice (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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Cite this entry: “unservice.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unservice. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.