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• good Samaritan
  good Samaritan

  noun

  one who is compassionate and helpful to a person in distress.
• Good Samaritan
  Good Samaritan

  noun

  New Testament a figure in one of Christ's parables (Luke 10:30–37) who is an example of compassion towards those in distress

good Samaritan

American  

[good suh-mar-i-tn] / ˈgʊd səˈmær ɪ tn /

Or good samaritan

noun

1. one who is compassionate and helpful to a person in distress.

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Good Samaritan British  

noun

1. New Testament a figure in one of Christ's parables (Luke 10:30–37) who is an example of compassion towards those in distress

2. a kindly person who helps another in difficulty or distress

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Good Samaritan Cultural  

1. In one of the parables of Jesus, the only one of several passersby to come to the aid of a Jew (see also Jews) who had been robbed, beaten, and left to die on the roadside. The kindness of the Samaritan was particularly admirable because Jews and Samaritans (i.e., people of Samaria) were generally enemies. Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan to answer a man who had asked him, “Who is my neighbor?” He forced his questioner to admit that the Samaritan was the true neighbor of the man who had been robbed.

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good Samaritan Idioms  

1. A compassionate person who unselfishly helps others, as in In this neighborhood you can't count on a good Samaritan if you get in trouble. This expression alludes to Jesus's parable about a Samaritan who rescues and cares for a stranger who had been robbed and badly hurt and had been ignored by a priest and a Levite (Luke 10:30–35). The Samaritans were considered a heretical group by other Jews, so by using a Samaritan for the parable, Jesus chose a person whom his listeners would find least likely to be worthy of concern. [c. 1600]

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Discover More

Figuratively, “Good Samaritans” are persons who go out of their way to perform acts of kindness to others, especially strangers.

Etymology

Origin of good Samaritan

First recorded in 1840–50; from the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:30–37.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

good Samaritan Good Samaritan

A Coast Guard aircrew located the boy sitting on top of the overturned boat on Monday morning, and a nearby good Samaritan vessel pulled him to safety.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

"My good Samaritan," Harp said when she appeared on stage with Trump at a "Faith and Freedom Coalition" meeting in 2018.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

But the moment that stood out most to me was when one good Samaritan asked plaintively while helping the distressed teenager, “We got to be able to call somebody.”

From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2026

"I was pleading for someone to carry me and take me to hospital. A good Samaritan brought me here," he recalled in an interview with a freelance journalist working for the BBC.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2025

“And,” Mom says, “they finally found the good Samaritan who saved all those people in that nursing home.”

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

But when I boarded a tram, I recognized someone: The driver was my Good Samaritan from the highway.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

At one point, you question if he even knows the story of the Good Samaritan.

From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2026

The couple moved to Los Angeles in 1976, and in 1985, Cannom joined the staff at the Hospital of the Good Samaritan, where he would serve as medical director of cardiology for over three decades.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

Rinderknecht's lawyers argued in the trial that he was a Good Samaritan who had called emergency services to report the initial fire, maintaining that the blaze had actually been sparked by fireworks.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Today she chose the parable of the Good Samaritan.

From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare

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