Meaning & use
civil servant
Last updated
UK/ˌsɪvəl ˈsɜːvənt/
US/ˌsɪvəl ˈsɝːvənt/
Meaning
nouncountable
A person employed in the administrative departments of a government, not elected to office.
Grammar: Countable: a civil servant, many civil servants.
Patterns
- work as a civil servant
My aunt is a civil servant in the tax office.
Civil servants prepared the report for the minister.
He left teaching to become a civil servant.
Word forms
| plural | civil servants |
|---|
Common combinations
- senior civil servant
- A senior civil servant advised the minister.
- career civil servant
- He was a career civil servant for thirty years.
- retired civil servant
- The speaker was a retired civil servant.
- become a civil servant
- She hopes to become a civil servant.
Synonyms and how they differ
- public servant
- Public servant is broader and includes elected officials and public workers.
- government employee
- Government employee is plain and includes any worker the state pays.
- bureaucrat
- Bureaucrat often sounds critical and stresses rule-following.
- official
- Official suggests rank or authority, not necessarily a civil service job.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: civil servant or public servant?
civil servant vs public servant
A public servant may be elected or any public worker, while a civil servant works for the permanent government administration.
Practice
Which person is most likely a civil servant?
Choose one answer.
A ministry clerk is employed by the government administration. A senator is elected, and the others are not government staff.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “civil servant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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