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public servant ~ civil servant

“Public servant” (noun) is ‘a government employee, especially one that is elected; an official or worker who works in public services, such as electricity, transportation, the police, etc.’,

e.g.

A postman is a public servant.

A superintendent of police is a public servant.

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“Civil servant” (noun) is ‘an employee of a “civil service” which means the administrative departments of a government or international agency, and the people who run them; a person who gets the this type of employment by passing the highest competitive examination in some countries’,

e.g.

The secretary of a minister is a civil servant.

An administrative officer of a region is a civil servant.

[The word ‘servant’ in these two nouns phrases does not mean the worker with a menial job (like sweeping, cleaning or doing the washing, washing-up, etc.), or a worker who works for another person living in the same house, as some people believe.  Here ‘servant’ means “employee” – an officer.]

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