aid
verb (used with object)
to provide support for or relief to; help.
Showing results for aid.
Search instead for
Aii.
Jump To:
aid
1 American
[eyd]
/ eɪd /
verb (used with object)
-
aids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
aided,
past participle, past
-
aiding
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
aids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
aided,
past participle, past
-
aiding
present participle
noun
-
aids
plural
-
help or support; assistance.
-
a person or thing that aids or furnishes assistance; helper; auxiliary.
-
Manège. aids,
-
Also called natural aids. the means by which a rider communicates with and controls a horse, as the hands, legs, voice, and shifts in weight.
-
Also called artificial aids. the devices used by a rider to increase control of a horse, as spurs, whip, and martingale.
-
-
a payment made by feudal vassals to their lord on special occasions.
-
English History. (after 1066) any of several revenues received by a king in the Middle Ages from his vassals and other subjects, limited by the Magna Charta to specified occasions.
AID
2
American
[eyd]
/ eɪd /
noun
U.S. Government.
AID
3
American
abbreviation
-
American Institute of Decorators.
-
American Institute of Interior Designers.
-
British. artificial insemination donor. Also A.I.D.
aid
1
British
/ eɪd /
verb
-
to give support to (someone to do something); help or assist
-
(tr) to assist financially
noun
-
assistance; help; support
-
a person, device, etc, that helps or assists
a teaching aid
-
Also: artificial aid. mountaineering any of various devices such as piton or nut when used as a direct help in the ascent
-
(in medieval Europe; in England after 1066) a feudal payment made to the king or any lord by his vassals, usually on certain occasions such as the marriage of a daughter or the knighting of an eldest son
-
informal in support of; for the purpose of
AID
2
British
abbreviation
-
acute infectious disease
-
artificial insemination (by) donor: former name for Donor Insemination (DI)
Aid
3
British
combining form
Commonly Confused
Although the nouns aid and aide both have among their meanings “an assisting person,” the spelling aide is increasingly used for the sense “helper, assistant”: One of the senator's aides is calling. Aide in military use is short for aide-de-camp. It is also the spelling in nurse's aide.
Synonym Usage
See help.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
aidsimple
-
aidssimple
-
have aidedperfect
-
has aidedperfect
-
am aidingprogressive
-
are aidingprogressive
-
is aidingprogressive
-
have been aidingperfect progressive
-
has been aidingperfect progressive
Past
-
aidedsimple
-
had aidedperfect
-
was aidingprogressive
-
were aidingprogressive
-
had been aidingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of aid1
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English noun aide, eide, from Anglo-French, Old French aide, derivative of verb aid(i)er, from Latin adjūtāre “to help”; see also adjuvant ( def. )
Origin of AID2
A(gency for) I(nternational) D(evelopment)
Explanation
Aid is what you do when you help someone — you come to their aid. Rich countries provide economic aid to poor countries, and if you cut your hand, you'll be looking in the first aid kit for a Band-Aid. You can also use aid as a verb: "The librarian will aid you in your search." English has some words with meanings related to aid, but they're spelled with an -e on the end, because they come from the French. A nurse's aide is someone who assists a nurse. An aide-de-camp is a close assistant and confidant to a military officer, a word often shortened to just aide, to refer to an assistant to a political official.
Vocabulary lists containing aid
Giving Words
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Beowulf vocabulary
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Syrian Refugee Crisis Continues
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Your cousin needs help, from a CFP or financial adviser or, better yet, free legal aid.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
Welsh councils will receive £4.8 million to provide "emergency food aid" and other support for people struggling due to cost of living pressures.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
One of the still incomplete recommendations made by the Office of Violence Prevention was to increase legal aid.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Myers said around 30% of Mountain School students receive financial aid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
The English night class was held several times a week in coordination with one of Maxwell Street’s many Jewish aid organizations.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Their current focus is on developing innovative segmentation and clustering techniques for multivariate time series data tailored to uncover more granular patterns and handle the challenges posed by AID data.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024
AID official, was in East Africa to pledge aid to help the region’s fight against hunger amid a devastating multi-year drought.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 27, 2022
The AID provides a different perspective from those of other commonly used metrics.
From Nature ● Apr. 14, 2020
By midmorning, a line snaked out the door of AID Atlanta’s Midtown clinic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2019
“Can you believe they even gave her that AID virus and injected her into monkeys?”
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Aid workers have witnessed such events, and in at least one case filmed them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
He added: "All the live acts are donating their time for free, so it's a mini Live Aid."
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
The account was relayed by the organization Whistleblower Aid, which said it represents the anonymous whistleblower.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
Aid agencies warn that displacement can create additional risks for women and girls because of overcrowding, shared facilities and loss of privacy.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
It’s probably not what he thought he was signing up for when he agreed to be an agent for the Children’s Aid Society.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
While others with hearing disorders can perceive certain low-frequency vibrations as sound, for Pride almost everything is completely inaudible without powerful hearing aids.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
The publication dinged the compact SUV for its lack of driving aids.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
EssilorLuxottica has also branched into hearing correction, with its Nuance Audio integrating hearing aids into eyeglasses frames.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
Specimens came to be used as teaching aids at universities or by research institutes.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
He had briefed the staff in the laboratory on Leesburg Pike—which had been handling monkey blood and tissue samples— about the need to handle these specimens as if they were infected with the aids virus.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
The Rams’ pass rush will be aided by the addition of lineman Aaron Donald, the three-time NFL defensive player of the year who will make his season debut after coming out of two-year retirement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
He has been aided by injuries to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who swept the majors in the past two seasons, but a strengthened mentality and dedication to fitness has also helped.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
The first leg of yen strength was driven by a BoJ rate hike and a round of government intervention aided by the U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
Revenue and Ebitda are expected to rise by mid-teen percentages, while free cash flow should be aided by stable annual capital expenditure of about 50 billion ringgit, they say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Membership was confined to women with at least one ancestor who had aided the cause of the Revolutionary War.
From "The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights" by Russell Freedman
Experts from India, China, Australia and South Korea have been aiding Nepali rescuers in their search of survivors inside the blocked tunnels.
From Barron's ● Sep. 5, 2026
O'Neill explained that under North Carolina law, a person accused of aiding and abetting a crime can be held criminally responsible in the same way as the person who carried it out.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
Taiwan prosecutors charged nine people, including former employees of Nvidia and Super Micro Computer, with aiding the shipment of dozens of advanced AI servers to China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Increasingly popular in Europe and the UK, the company's budget-friendly, tech-focused cars come together at the Hangzhou factory with robots aiding the process at every step.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
And if Pieret had stolen the Mona Lisa, Apollinaire was guilty of aiding the most wanted man in the world.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
