service member

noun

variants or less commonly servicemember
plural service members also servicemembers
: a person who is a member of the armed forces
Once Federal Judge Martin Barash administered the oath of allegiance and spoke about their new responsibilities and privileges, he singled out each service member by name (the only new citizens offered this recognition), and the crowd responded with standing ovations.Smithsonian
For three-quarters of a century, East Helena has proudly honored servicemembers with a monument in the heart of town. And now community leaders are looking for names of area veterans as they rebuild the monument with a new design.Tom Kuglin

Examples of service member in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The strikes were the first round of retaliatory action by the Biden administration for an attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members. Abigail Hauslohner, Washington Post, 23 Mar. 2024 Last year, The Intercept reported on a shadowy Pentagon unit called the Protective Services Battalion, which trawls through social media searching for posts from service members that might embarrass current and former top military brass. Will Carless, USA TODAY, 22 Mar. 2024 Because of the classified nature of the unit, the service members went unrecognized for nearly half a century. Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 21 Mar. 2024 The bill also protects women's reproductive health by preserving the Department of Defense's travel policy to ensure service members and their families can access reproductive healthcare, Democrats pointed out. Lauren Peller, ABC News, 21 Mar. 2024 Two of those key differences included that the military had advised that the U.S. keep at least 2,500 service members in Afghanistan to maintain stability and a concern that the State Department was not moving fast enough to get an evacuation started. Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 20 Mar. 2024 Winfield was one of 362 service members identified as part of the USS Oklahoma disinterment and identification project, out of 394 buried as unknowns. Giuseppe Ricapito, The Mercury News, 18 Mar. 2024 Forgive us for not being too comforted by the idea that the Biden administration is risking the lives of American service members on the hope that Hamas cares about the well-being of civilians. The Editors, National Review, 13 Mar. 2024 How did the big cup go from hydrating service members to becoming a status symbol? Morgan Haefner, Quartz, 7 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'service member.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1955, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of service member was in 1955

Dictionary Entries Near service member

Cite this Entry

“Service member.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/service%20member. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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