aide
Americannoun
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an assistant or helper, especially a paid employee.
Years ago, my mom was a teacher’s aide in a kindergarten classroom.
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During the war she worked as an aide in a field hospital, changing bedpans and cleaning floors.
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an assistant or advisor to a public figure, especially one who works for a person in public office.
He is a journalist and former White House aide.
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The agency just called to say my mom's aide didn't show up this morning.
noun
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an assistant
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social welfare an unqualified assistant to a professional welfare worker
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short for aide-de-camp
Commonly Confused
See aid.
Etymology
Origin of aide
An Americanism first recorded in 1770–80; from French: literally, “helper”; aid
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.
Loera-Zarco worked as a student aide with the Pomona Unified School District, supporting children on the autism spectrum, according to Trejo.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
A federal judge ruled that diaries of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s aide Li Rui can remain at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026
The aide said Prince William's "commitment to the Church of England is sometimes quieter than people expect, and for that reason it is not always fully understood".
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2026
Dauda Iliya, a media aide to the Borno State government, said authorities were working to confirm casualties from the explosions at the city's main market and the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026
Miss Honeywell, a teacher and a grown woman, was escorted to the principal’s office like a bad boy walking the “paddle mile,” while a hallway aide watched her classroom.
From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia
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.
