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 service …

—Jake 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

Instead, the same record a hospital is legally bound to protect becomes governed by a company's terms of service the moment a patient connects to it. — Ami Bhatt, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026

In its legal defense, Meta pointed out that its terms of service prohibit users from using its AI products to generate images containing pornography. — Alex Reisner, The Atlantic, 24 July 2026

Several Russian retailers complained that Wildberries’ terms of service had recently been changed to state that the e-retailer bears no liability for damage resulting from drone attacks. — Nathan Hodge, CNN Money, 23 July 2026

The law prevents those under the age of 16 from creating or keeping accounts on covered platforms by limiting the age at which minors can sign the contract required to open an account and consent to share their data via a terms of service. — Ravi Iyer, Time, 18 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1994, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for terms of service

• interservice
• disservice
• preservice
• nervous
• nervus