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:
The company said the infrastructure would help it meet growing demand for services including Search, Maps and its AI assistant Gemini.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Under Aurich, who played at Princeton and climbed as an assistant coach from Division III to the NFL, that process has given Harvard yet another thing to be annoyingly good at.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
“Parents are children’s natural providers and protectors,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Hired as an assistant project manager, the candidate’s strong communication and organizational skills were his selling point, she said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
“Yes, the sash for First Turkey’s assistant should be ready.”
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
Rams coach Sean McVay said he spoke with his assistants after online videos appeared to show coaches taunting Eagles fans and making obscene gestures from a stadium booth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman kicked off the company’s developer day with a new product: a team of “remarkably capable” and ”remarkably cute” personal assistants called Dots.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
AI assistants may soon run your financial life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Dots, however, were pitched as brightly colored cute cartoons meant to function as digital assistants for people with busy lives.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
His chances seemed to improve again on May 10, when the FBI revealed the bugging that’d been done, at Kissinger’s orders, on the phones of his assistants.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
