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Sports & Fitness vocabulary · Sports & Disciplines

Serve

Meaning in sports & fitness, with examples

/sɜrv/verbCore term

In sports & fitness, serve means: To start a point in tennis, volleyball, badminton or table tennis by hitting the ball or shuttlecock to the opponent; as a noun, the shot itself.

In Turkish: servis atmak, servis kullanmak

How it is used

Used by players, coaches and commentators. Players serve first, serve an ace or hold serve; in tennis, breaking serve means winning a game on the opponent's serve. A serve that does not land in the correct area is a fault.

Example sentences

  1. She served three aces in the first game.

  2. Our team serves well but struggles to receive.

  3. He broke serve twice in the second set.

Common collocations

  • serve an ace
  • hold serve
  • break serve
  • first serve
  • serve and volley
  • setA group of repetitions of an exercise done one after another without stopping, followed by a short rest.
  • opponentThe person or team you are playing or competing against in a match, race or contest.
  • scoreTo win a point, goal or run in a game; as a noun, the number of points each side has, as in "The score is 2–1".
  • matchA sports competition between two players or teams, such as a game of football, tennis or boxing, that ends with a result.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Sports & Disciplines

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