assistant
Americannoun
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assistants
plural
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a person who assists or gives aid and support; helper.
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a person who is subordinate to another in rank, function, etc.; one holding a secondary rank in an office or post.
He was assistant to the office manager.
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something that aids and supplements another.
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a faculty member of a college or university who ranks below an instructor and whose responsibilities usually include grading papers, supervising laboratories, and assisting in teaching.
adjective
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assisting; helpful.
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serving in an immediately subordinate position; of secondary rank.
an assistant coach.
noun
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a person who assists, esp in a subordinate position
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( as modifier )
assistant manager
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See shop assistant
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of assistant
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English assistent, from Latin assistent-, stem of assistēns “standing by,” present participle of assistere “to stand by, help”; see assist
Explanation
An assistant is someone that is there to help. If you work 80 hours a week, you might want to think about hiring a personal assistant to pick up your dry cleaning. The word assistant typically refers to someone who offers assistance. However, in certain professional situations, assistant can mean on a level below, as in "the Assistant District Attorney reports to the District Attorney." Not surprisingly, an assistant provides assistance. However, unlike a slave or an indentured servant, an assistant is paid for his work.
Vocabulary lists containing assistant
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ant, -ent
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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:
Trescothick has worked with England as a batting and assistant coach since 2021, but former Australia coach Mike Hussey has been approached by Fleming to be batting coach when he takes over.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Haden was a veteran prosecutor who had held several leadership roles during his career, including that of first assistant attorney general for the Southern District, which is the second-in-command role.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
"GDF15 helps reprogram liver cells to reduce inflammation and scarring by advanced spatial technology," says Dongdong Wang, first and corresponding author of the study and assistant professor in McMaster's Department of Medicine.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
What goes down: Rachel Sennott, the show’s creator, stars as Maia, an assistant talent manager.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
He sent his assistant off at once with a stretcher.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
The festival’s founders boast quite an industry lineage, having met on the set of a Sofia Coppola movie, where they were production assistants.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2026
In the case of Bessette’s wedding attire, one of Mance’s assistants found a swatch of fabric from her Narciso Rodriguez silk slip gown, which they were able to remake using the exact material.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
That includes an estimated 16,000 cooks and servers, 8,000 stockers and packers and 4,000 nursing assistants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Jaissle has brought three assistants with him in Alexander Hauser, Engin Yanova and Florens Koch, two coach analysts in Maximilian Fischer and Steffen Konrad and a goalkeeping coach, Alexander Bade.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Mark, one of the bearded casting assistants, says.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
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.
