terms of service

plural noun

: the legal terms (see term entry 1 sense 4) that set forth the nature, scope, and limits of a service (such as one offered through a website or an app) and the rules that the service's users must agree to follow
… Twitter users' complaints alerted the company that three of his messages violated the terms of serviceJake Tapper
… most people have no idea what is signed away when they click "agree" to binding terms of service contracts—again and again on phones, laptops, tablets, watches, e-readers and televisions.The New York Times
abbreviation TOS

Examples of terms of service in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Co-founder and former Discord CEO Jason Citron testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2024 that Discord uses a mix of proactive and reactive tools to enforce its terms of service and community guidelines. Kevin Collier, NBC news, 24 Sep. 2025 Cold Outreach Automated outreach, especially for cold prospecting, is a high-risk activity that can result in account suspensions for violating terms of service on platforms like LinkedIn and Meta. Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025 The investigation will also examine whether companies are complying with their own terms of service and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). PC Magazine, 12 Sep. 2025 The company also argued that its users are bound by the platform’s terms of service, which forbid violating others’ intellectual property rights. Gene Maddaus, Variety, 4 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for terms of service

Word History

First Known Use

1994, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of terms of service was in 1994

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Cite this Entry

“Terms of service.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terms%20of%20service. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025.

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