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 study's first authors are Stanford Medicine's Chiraag Kulkarni, MD, an instructor in gastroenterology and hepatology, and assistant clinical research coordinator Touran Fardeen.
From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026
"I know she's always wanted to go travelling and this was like the perfect opportunity for her to go and do it," says the 24-year-old finance assistant.
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026
Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said Southern California was rife with hospice fraud.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 2, 2026
Simon Broucke didn’t expect to use his mathematics degree for his music assistant job at “Masquerade,” the new interactive revival of “The Phantom of the Opera” in New York.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026
He signaled to the assistant to lift down one of the lamps.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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.
