the civil service

noun

: the part of a government that takes care of the government's basic business : the administrative part of a government

—often used before another noun

a civil service employee

the civil service system

Examples of the civil service in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These populist leaders have taken their election victories as mandates to pack the judiciary, shackle the press, cow the business community, silence and prosecute critics, and assert political dominance over the civil service, prosecutors, tax authorities, the security apparatus, and the military. —Larry Diamond, Foreign Affairs, 8 Nov. 2024

Such a system, however, threatens the stability and efficiency of government operations, and scholars have pointed out how Congress created the civil service in response to government corruption in the late 19th century. —TIME, 23 Sep. 2024

But all that accounts for just a fraction of the civil service, while the other work of the federal government’s various departments and agencies remains mostly a mystery to Americans. —Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 17 Sep. 2024

Opponents say the civil service job quotas are discriminatory. —Isaac Yee, CNN, 5 Aug. 2024