mutual aid

American  

noun

Sociology.

1. the cooperative as opposed to the competitive factors operating in the development of society.

---

Etymology

Origin of mutual aid

First recorded in 1530–40

Example Sentences

He said it would also help with requests for mutual aid from other councils.

From BBC • Jan. 6, 2026

Selena soon finds herself welcomed into the quirky community, a close-knit group that scrapes by on the seasonal influx of tourist dollars and a year-round system of mutual aid.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

“This is what mutual aid can look like when it’s organized by undocumented people for undocumented people.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 25, 2025

Mutual aid has always been necessary: Where politicians look at people and see data, mutual aid networks recognize them as humans with needs that cannot wait.

From Salon • Nov. 1, 2025

He had made a pact of mutual aid with two French kings, called Ban and Bon—and these two allies had come from France with about ten thousand men, to lend him aid.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White