social service

noun

plural social services

: a program or effort designed to promote human or societal well-being

specifically : organized help for people who are in need of assistance with basic needs (such as food, housing, safety, or job training) or with medical needs (such as addiction or mental illness)

—usually plural

Most states are struggling with skimpy resources and a system of uncoordinated social services that is totally inadequate to serve a population of individuals whose needs are bottomless.

—Constance Holden

… attacked the idea of social services, claiming that the only entity entitled to provide care is the church, not the government.

—Tori Otten

—often used before another noun

social service agencies

Until the bridge's closure, the island hosted and supported social service programs including homeless shelters and an addiction recovery campus.

—Ellie Wolfe

Examples of social service in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Suga has been completing his mandatory military service as a social service agent in South Korea since last year. —Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 30 Sep. 2024

This includes ensuring that national primary health care services are strengthened and continuity of health and social services for children and pregnant women is ensured to avoid secondary harm and adverse socioeconomic impacts of mpox. —Maryanne Murray Buechner, Forbes, 20 Sep. 2024

To navigate this system, parents often become experts in the bureaucracy of social services. —Hannah Frances Johansson, CNN, 13 Sep. 2024

Ghaly was appointed in 2019 to lead the state agency, which oversees a slew of California departments and offices that handle public health, mental health, assistance to people with developmental disabilities and a range of other health and social services. —Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1761, in the meaning defined above