assistant
Americannoun
-
assistants
plural
-
a person who assists or gives aid and support; helper.
-
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.
-
something that aids and supplements another.
-
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
-
assisting; helpful.
-
serving in an immediately subordinate position; of secondary rank.
an assistant coach.
noun
-
-
a person who assists, esp in a subordinate position
-
( as modifier )
assistant manager
-
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Unit 4, Week 1
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
Lorena Lopez, an assistant extension professor in NC State's Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology and a co-author of the study, explained that the discovery brings both encouraging and troubling news.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026
During an interview for an assistant at a book publisher in New York, Chas Edwards was asked a question he wasn't expecting.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
When he returned to Italy, Brass worked under prominent Italian neorealist director Roberto Rossellini as an editor and assistant director.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
She said she’s open to any kind of job, including assistant work and food service.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
The assistant reached her long, bony arms inside and dragged out a limp, defeated Fig.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
“Johnnie Walker Black Label. And something Japanese,” he dictates to one of the two assistants scurrying around his palatial open-plan home in L.A.’s Beverly Grove.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
His manager’s assistants and others on his team are combing through requests, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
I know his backroom staff better - Steve Holland, Jonny Evans and Jonathan Woodgate - and they are all able assistants with knowledge and experience at the very top level.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
Tech companies are also increasingly branding AI assistants as cute mascots, a choice that some say encourages users to project personalities and emotions onto the agent.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 24, 2026
Two assistants in black shirts offered sweating bottles of water, which the girls drank down in greedy gulps.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
