To serve to promote (an end); to be useful to.
Used in a Sentence
subserves
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for subserves.
Editorial note
In the original example, it is that university research PR has to be written this way to provide the grant substantiation its existence subserves, but arguably ought to be that the PR piece could just describe the research properly and without all the exaggeration.
Examples9
Definitions3
Parts of speech1
Quick take
To serve to promote (an end); to be useful to.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of subserves gathered in one view.
To assist in carrying out.
To be subservient to.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for subserves.
verb
To serve to promote (an end); to be useful to.
verb
To assist in carrying out.
verb
To be subservient to.
Example sentences
In the original example, it is that university research PR has to be written this way to provide the grant substantiation its existence subserves, but arguably ought to be that the PR piece could just describe the research properly and without all the exaggeration.
I still had to use a dictionary to understand what "subserves" means in this context.
The submitted title was "A hypothesis that self-face-touching subserves self-smelling", which I assume was an admirable attempt to make the title less baity by using representative language from the text.
I'd have gone with "supports", maybe, but the connotation is different; "subserves" says self-smelling is a major purpose of self-face-touching, "supports" suggests the association may be coincidental.
Between the context and the similarity with the adjective "subservient", "subserves" proved trivial to parse, and I haven't yet been able to come up with another expression of the same concept that is also as concise.
Quote examples
I still had to use a dictionary to understand what "subserves" means in this context.
The submitted title was "A hypothesis that self-face-touching subserves self-smelling", which I assume was an admirable attempt to make the title less baity by using representative language from the text.
I'd have gone with "supports", maybe, but the connotation is different; "subserves" says self-smelling is a major purpose of self-face-touching, "supports" suggests the association may be coincidental.
Between the context and the similarity with the adjective "subservient", "subserves" proved trivial to parse, and I haven't yet been able to come up with another expression of the same concept that is also as concise.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use subserves in a sentence?
In the original example, it is that university research PR has to be written this way to provide the grant substantiation its existence subserves, but arguably ought to be that the PR piece could just describe the research properly and without all the exaggeration.
What does subserves mean?
To serve to promote (an end); to be useful to.
What part of speech is subserves?
subserves is commonly used as verb.