Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Jump To:
  • aid
    aid
    verb (used with object)
    to provide support for or relief to; help.
  • AID
    AID
    noun
    the division of the United States International Development Cooperation Agency that coordinates the various foreign aid programs with U.S. foreign policy: established in 1961.
  • Aid
    Aid
    combining form
    denoting a charitable organization or function that raises money for a cause
Synonyms

aid

1 American  
[eyd] / eɪd /

verb (used with object)

aids, present (3rd person singular) aided, past participle, past aiding present participle
  1. to provide support for or relief to; help.

    to aid the victims of the fire.

  2. to promote the progress or accomplishment of; facilitate.

    Synonyms:
    advance, foster, back, abet
    Antonyms:
    frustrate, hinder

verb (used without object)

aids, present (3rd person singular) aided, past participle, past aiding present participle
  1. to give help or assistance.

noun

  1. help or support; assistance.

    Synonyms:
    grant, subsidy, relief, succor
  2. a person or thing that aids or furnishes assistance; helper; auxiliary.

  3. Manège. aids,

    1. 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.

    2. Also called artificial aids.  the devices used by a rider to increase control of a horse, as spurs, whip, and martingale.

  4. aide-de-camp.

  5. foreign aid.

  6. a payment made by feudal vassals to their lord on special occasions.

  7. 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.
  1. the division of the United States International Development Cooperation Agency that coordinates the various foreign aid programs with U.S. foreign policy: established in 1961.


AID 3 American  

abbreviation

  1. American Institute of Decorators.

  2. American Institute of Interior Designers.

  3. British. artificial insemination donor. Also A.I.D.


aid 1 British  
/ eɪd /

verb

  1. to give support to (someone to do something); help or assist

  2. (tr) to assist financially

"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

noun

  1. assistance; help; support

  2. a person, device, etc, that helps or assists

    a teaching aid

  3. Also: artificial aidmountaineering any of various devices such as piton or nut when used as a direct help in the ascent

  4. (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

  5. informal in support of; for the purpose of

"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
AID 2 British  

abbreviation

  1. acute infectious disease

  2. artificial insemination (by) donor: former name for Donor Insemination (DI)

"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

Aid 3 British  

combining form

  1. denoting a charitable organization or function that raises money for a cause

    Band Aid

    Ferryaid

"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

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

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.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing 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.

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

Percentages of employees asking for exemptions also vary, from 10.2 percent at the Department of Veterans Affairs to 1.3 percent at AID and the State Department.

From Washington Post • Nov. 24, 2021

As school enrolment becomes universal and members of the population begin to achieve similarly high levels of education, the AID declines again.

From Nature • Apr. 14, 2020

“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

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember "aid" for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com