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:
Changliu Liu, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, has a YouTube failbot compilation she likes to show students.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
His mother worked as a teaching assistant and his father a painter, and they earned enough to buy a home, which was their priority.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
Tao Gao, MD, research assistant professor of Preventive Medicine, was the study's lead author.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026
Brent Turner, the Shasta County assistant registrar, said his job was not open because he had not quit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
Darkness said, “Finding an assistant, such as First Turkey’s Seed Collector, takes two moon cycles. And someone would have to go to Changing Woman herself.”
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
An aging population always needs more doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
Morris and his assistants have invested time in teaching players to play dominoes and spades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Todd Monken crossed paths with Kiffin many times while both crisscrossed the country for decades, taking this job and that, as head coaches and assistants at top colleges and in the NFL.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
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
Mr. Voskuijl, Bep’s father, works in the warehouse, along with two assistants, none of whom were told anything.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
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.
