helping

American

[hel-ping] / ˈhɛl pɪŋ /

noun

the act of a person or thing that helps.
a portion of food served to a person at one time.

That's his third helping of ice cream.

adjective

giving aid, assistance, support, or the like.

helping British

/ ˈhɛlpɪŋ /

noun

a single portion of food taken at a meal

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

helpings

plural

Etymology

Origin of helping

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English; see origin at help, -ing ¹, -ing ²

Vocabulary lists containing helping

"Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf"

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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.

County Public Works has already begun working with Neighbors Helping Neighbors and the Conservation Corps to remove brush and vegetation from private properties, according to Kerjon Lee, a spokesperson for the department.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 26, 2026

Helping out an adult child is not necessarily enabling them.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 19, 2026

"Helping others promotes a greater balance in children's emotional lives."

From Science Daily • Jun. 13, 2026

Helping make all that happen will be new External link cost-cutting and platform consolidation programs, which lead to benefits of scale by reducing unique parts.

From Barron's • May 22, 2026

Helping Mrs. Coulter had been all very well, but Pantalaimon was right: she wasn’t really doing any work there, she was just a pretty pet.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023