assist
Americanverb (used with object)
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assists,
present (3rd person singular)
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assisted,
past participle, past
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assisting
present participle
verb (used without object)
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assists,
present (3rd person singular)
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assisted,
past participle, past
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assisting
present participle
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to give aid or help.
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to be present, as at a meeting or ceremony.
noun
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assists
plural
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Sports.
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Baseball. a play that helps to put out a batter or base runner.
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Basketball, Ice Hockey. a play that helps a teammate in gaining a goal.
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the official credit scored for such plays.
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a helpful act.
She finished her homework without an assist from her father.
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Machinery. an electrical, hydraulic, or mechanical means of increasing power, efficiency, or ease of use.
a luxury automobile equipped with assists for brakes, steering, windows, and seat adjustment.
verb
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to give help or support to (a person, cause, etc); aid
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to work or act as an assistant or subordinate to (another)
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ice hockey to help (a team-mate) to score, as by passing the puck
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archaic to be present; attend
noun
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the act of helping; aid; assistance
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baseball the act of a player who throws or deflects a batted ball in such a way that a team is enabled to put out an opponent
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sport
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a pass or other action by a player which enables another player to score a goal
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a credit given for such an action
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Synonym Usage
See help.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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assisternoun
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nonassisternoun
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overassistverb
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reassistverb (used with object)
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assistiveadjective
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unassistedadjective
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unassistingadjective
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well-assistedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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assistsimple
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assistssimple
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have assistedperfect
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has assistedperfect
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am assistingprogressive
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are assistingprogressive
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is assistingprogressive
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have been assistingperfect progressive
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has been assistingperfect progressive
Past
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assistedsimple
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had assistedperfect
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was assistingprogressive
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were assistingprogressive
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had been assistingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of assist
First recorded in 1505–15; from Latin assistere “to stand by, help,” from as- as- ( def. ) + sistere “to cause to stand, stop,” derivative of stāre “to stand” ( see also stand ( def. ))
Explanation
You run up the field, pass the ball to the forward and she scores! It’s your third assist of the game. On and off the soccer field, to assist is to help or contribute. The English word assist came to us in the early 15th century from the French word assister, meaning to "to stand by or help.” The French word is pronounced "ah-sis-tay" and is not to be confused with "a sister." Even if your sister is helpful.
Vocabulary lists containing assist
Defense, Dribble, and Dunk: Basketball Lingo
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Mother's Day Words: What Mothers Do
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Herbert Hoover on "Rugged Individualism" (1928)
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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:
It is enough preparation to help on the nights when I still want to cook, but would appreciate an assist.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
The driver reports allege an immediate loss of brake assist functionality instead of the loss occurring after the vehicle comes to a complete stop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
The trial judge issued that injunction more recently, finding that these groups too have been injured by having to take steps to assist voters for November’s elections.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
Since opening the evaluation, the agency has received more reports of losing brake assist, some of which have described issues inconsistent with GM’s description of a spindle failure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
To assist in this work, he had a huge version of the instrument called a quadrant made for him.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
Fernandes, who last season broke the record for the most assists in a single Premier League campaign with 21, is the first United player to win the award since Wayne Rooney in 2010.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Fernandes set up his side's opener on the final day of the season against Brighton – and scored their third – to finish 2025-26 with nine goals and 21 assists in 35 league outings.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Though Miles trails another MVP candidate, Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, in points and assists per game, she is more efficient by most measures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Miles averages 20 points and 6.2 assists per game, ranking among the top 10 in the league for both statistics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Nathaniel Muhammad assists Emanuel in the dry-cleaning plant.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
While appearing to be her effervescent self, she was also more supported physically than usual, assisted to the podium.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
Lane assisted in the Shook Research sales effort by speaking about the relationship between that company and the magazine during the due diligence stage, according to people familiar with the matter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
A $2-billion high-rise affordable housing complex is set to change the skyline of Warner Center and set a new precedent for assisted senior living in Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Macron's office hailed the Constitutional Council's decision on the assisted dying law, seen as one of the major social reforms of his second term.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
During reproduction, the helices separate, assisted by a special unwinding protein, each synthesizing an identical copy of the other from nucleotide building blocks floating about nearby in the viscous liquid of the cell nucleus.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
If I wasn’t so scared of tumbling into the ocean, I would have laughed at the fact that a woman who was technically a senior citizen was the one assisting a twentysomething.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Kozlowski's wife, Sandra Kozlowska, 38, also from Kirkby, was convicted of assisting an offender after she helped her husband to avoid suspicion by depositing money in bank accounts for him and lying to the police.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
He turned down assisting a professor with data analysis for a book, for instance, because it would have required substantial changes to his class schedule that would sidetrack his early graduation.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
Bai would later be expelled from the surrogacy industry’s ethics group for her role in assisting a U.S. couple accused of deceiving surrogates into carrying more than 20 children for them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
‘Quite right,’ answered the dwarf, gathering up the cushions and courteously assisting Frodo back into his seat.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
