assistant
Americannoun
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a person who assists or gives aid and support; helper.
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a person who is subordinate to another in rank, function, etc.; one holding a secondary rank in an office or post.
He was assistant to the office manager.
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something that aids and supplements another.
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a faculty member of a college or university who ranks below an instructor and whose responsibilities usually include grading papers, supervising laboratories, and assisting in teaching.
adjective
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assisting; helpful.
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serving in an immediately subordinate position; of secondary rank.
an assistant coach.
noun
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a person who assists, esp in a subordinate position
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( as modifier )
assistant manager
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See shop assistant
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of assistant
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English assistent, from Latin assistent-, stem of assistēns “standing by,” present participle of assistere “to stand by, help”; see assist
Explanation
An assistant is someone that is there to help. If you work 80 hours a week, you might want to think about hiring a personal assistant to pick up your dry cleaning. The word assistant typically refers to someone who offers assistance. However, in certain professional situations, assistant can mean on a level below, as in "the Assistant District Attorney reports to the District Attorney." Not surprisingly, an assistant provides assistance. However, unlike a slave or an indentured servant, an assistant is paid for his work.
Vocabulary lists containing assistant
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ant, -ent
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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:
Brazil’s foreign ministry said Saturday it had denied visas for Riley M. Barnes, assistant secretary from the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and Samuel Samson, a deputy assistant secretary of state.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
An assistant coach joked that they might’ve finally found a weakness in Wallace’s game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
One fix would be to cut the internet connection entirely, said Gang Wang, an assistant computer science professor at the University of Illinois.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
He said he received confirmation of the death after his assistant phoned local police.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
He sent his assistant off at once with a stretcher.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Family assistants, who typically have child care backgrounds, combine the duties of a house manager, personal assistant and nanny.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Epstein would also pit the assistants against each other, Anya says.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Services that "do not involve ongoing emotional interaction" such as customer service, work assistants or study aids are not subject to the measures.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
Saar would often hire them as assistants in the studio, she explains: “We’d help her sew, or draw, or glue things together.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
One hundred fifty a day sought him out; his five assistants each saw thirty patients a day.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
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.
