assistant
Americannoun
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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
- nonassistant noun
- unassistant adjective
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”; assist
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.
"The lighter a black hole is, the hotter it should be and the more particles it will emit," says Andrea Thamm, co-author of the new research and assistant professor of physics at UMass Amherst.
From Science Daily • Apr. 8, 2026
Subsequent internships and fellowships led to assistant director opportunities, which he said he took “very seriously” while figuring out how to create his own work.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026
As a veteran assistant U.S. attorney, passed over for promotions repeatedly in his 24-year career, Keenan was still handling low-level cases typically reserved for first-year federal prosecutors.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026
Broadcom also said that it has expanded its deal with Anthropic to give the company responsible for AI assistant Claude access to 3.5 gigawatts of computing capacity through Google’s AI processors, starting in 2027.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
A door squeaked open, and the vet’s assistant poked her head out.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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.
