aid
verb (used with object)
to provide support for or relief to; help.
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aid
1 American
[ayd]
/ eɪd /
verb (used with object)
-
aids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
aided,
past participle, past
-
aiding
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
aids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
aided,
past participle, past
-
aiding
present participle
noun
-
aids
plural
-
help or support; assistance.
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a person or thing that aids or furnishes assistance; helper; auxiliary.
-
Manège. aids,
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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.
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Also called artificial aids. the devices used by a rider to increase control of a horse, as spurs, whip, and martingale.
-
-
a payment made by feudal vassals to their lord on special occasions.
-
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
[ayd]
/ eɪd /
noun
U.S. Government.
AID
3
American
abbreviation
-
American Institute of Decorators.
-
American Institute of Interior Designers.
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British. artificial insemination donor. Also A.I.D.
aid
1
British
/ eɪd /
verb
-
to give support to (someone to do something); help or assist
-
(tr) to assist financially
noun
-
assistance; help; support
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a person, device, etc, that helps or assists
a teaching aid
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Also: artificial aid. mountaineering any of various devices such as piton or nut when used as a direct help in the ascent
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(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
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informal in support of; for the purpose of
AID
2
British
abbreviation
-
acute infectious disease
-
artificial insemination (by) donor: former name for Donor Insemination (DI)
Aid
3
British
combining form
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
aidsimple
-
aidssimple
-
have aidedperfect
-
has aidedperfect
-
am aidingprogressive
-
are aidingprogressive
-
is aidingprogressive
-
have been aidingperfect progressive
-
has been aidingperfect progressive
Past
-
aidedsimple
-
had aidedperfect
-
was aidingprogressive
-
were aidingprogressive
-
had been aidingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing aid
Giving Words
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The Syrian Refugee Crisis Continues
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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:
Stefan Oelrich, the president of Bayer’s pharma division, told The Wall Street Journal earlier this year that the company was looking at expanding its U.S. manufacturing footprint to aid its turnaround plan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Cabrera would do that by making student services easier to navigate and strengthening financial aid and other support, including for food, housing, child care and mental health.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Ahead of the Bangkok talks, Cordano released an "aid to negotiations" -- a non-binding outline of a possible treaty, with brackets around the most contentious sections.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
Dad Daniel said he thought the message would resonate with the princess, after she completed her own Three Peaks challenge earlier this year, in aid of the hospital where she was treated for cancer.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
“I am Masterji Thakur. Your first introduction to the Paragon of Taste. I will be teaching you about elixirs, unlocking the power of three-thousand-year-old spices and how they aid in marvelling. The tongue tells truth!”
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
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
By contrast, the AID equates inequality with heterogeneity in educational attainment within a population.
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
Aid groups have warned that the humanitarian crisis is far from over.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Aid agencies argue that the dangers for women in Gaza could be greatly eased by improving humanitarian conditions.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Aid workers have witnessed such events, and in at least one case filmed them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
The account was relayed by the organization Whistleblower Aid, which said it represents the anonymous whistleblower.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
Aid around the Chamber many Revolutions & that is good.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
For Vitamin B-2, which aids cellular metabolism, he devised a synthesis that improved on European methods while avoiding their patents, cutting the price by more than 99%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
While others with hearing disorders can perceive certain low-frequency vibrations as sound, for Pride almost everything is completely inaudible without powerful hearing aids.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Jade Fenton, 32, said her nan lost her home and nearly all her belongings, including hearing aids, jewellery, a wedding ring and other memories of her late husband.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
EssilorLuxottica has also branched into hearing correction, with its Nuance Audio integrating hearing aids into eyeglasses frames.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
The doctors think that eventually he’ll need to wear hearing aids, though.
From "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio
But the company’s product sales have been aided over the past 25 years by the presence of its iconic brand in more than 500 retail stores scattered across 27 countries and regions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
The Rams’ pass rush will be aided by the addition of lineman Aaron Donald, the three-time NFL defensive player of the year who will make his season debut after coming out of two-year retirement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
The first leg of yen strength was driven by a BoJ rate hike and a round of government intervention aided by the U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
The videos form part of the lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, which argues the country was complicit and that Bayoumi aided two of the hijackers.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
A young sailor named Percy Blackborrow was hiding in a locker, aided by William Bakewell, another young seaman.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
He argues the technology could modernize court infrastructure, aiding in case management, scheduling and document processing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
And being stuck in a hospital bed is not good for a patient, often leading to a decline in physical health rather than aiding their recovery.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
Experts from India, China, Australia and South Korea have been aiding Nepali rescuers in their search of survivors inside the blocked tunnels.
From Barron's ● Sep. 5, 2026
O'Neill explained that under North Carolina law, a person accused of aiding and abetting a crime can be held criminally responsible in the same way as the person who carried it out.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
He needed a walk that day, and needed walks for many days following, to work out what he’d done and why, how he had forgotten his child while aiding his wife.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
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.
