aid
verb (used with object)
to provide support for or relief to; help.
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aid
1 American
[eyd]
/ eɪd /
verb (used with object)
-
aids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
aided,
past participle, past
-
aiding
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
aids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
aided,
past participle, past
-
aiding
present participle
noun
-
aids
plural
-
help or support; assistance.
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a person or thing that aids or furnishes assistance; helper; auxiliary.
-
Manège. aids,
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Also called natural aids. the means by which a rider communicates with and controls a horse, as the hands, legs, voice, and shifts in weight.
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Also called artificial aids. the devices used by a rider to increase control of a horse, as spurs, whip, and martingale.
-
-
a payment made by feudal vassals to their lord on special occasions.
-
English History. (after 1066) any of several revenues received by a king in the Middle Ages from his vassals and other subjects, limited by the Magna Charta to specified occasions.
AID
2
American
[eyd]
/ eɪd /
noun
U.S. Government.
AID
3
American
abbreviation
-
American Institute of Decorators.
-
American Institute of Interior Designers.
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British. artificial insemination donor. Also A.I.D.
aid
1
British
/ eɪd /
verb
-
to give support to (someone to do something); help or assist
-
(tr) to assist financially
noun
-
assistance; help; support
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a person, device, etc, that helps or assists
a teaching aid
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Also: artificial aid. mountaineering any of various devices such as piton or nut when used as a direct help in the ascent
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(in medieval Europe; in England after 1066) a feudal payment made to the king or any lord by his vassals, usually on certain occasions such as the marriage of a daughter or the knighting of an eldest son
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informal in support of; for the purpose of
AID
2
British
abbreviation
-
acute infectious disease
-
artificial insemination (by) donor: former name for Donor Insemination (DI)
Aid
3
British
combining form
Commonly Confused
Although the nouns aid and aide both have among their meanings “an assisting person,” the spelling aide is increasingly used for the sense “helper, assistant”: One of the senator's aides is calling. Aide in military use is short for aide-de-camp. It is also the spelling in nurse's aide.
Synonym Usage
See help.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
aidsimple
-
aidssimple
-
have aidedperfect
-
has aidedperfect
-
am aidingprogressive
-
are aidingprogressive
-
is aidingprogressive
-
have been aidingperfect progressive
-
has been aidingperfect progressive
Past
-
aidedsimple
-
had aidedperfect
-
was aidingprogressive
-
were aidingprogressive
-
had been aidingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of aid1
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English noun aide, eide, from Anglo-French, Old French aide, derivative of verb aid(i)er, from Latin adjūtāre “to help”; see also adjuvant ( def. )
Origin of AID2
A(gency for) I(nternational) D(evelopment)
Explanation
Aid is what you do when you help someone — you come to their aid. Rich countries provide economic aid to poor countries, and if you cut your hand, you'll be looking in the first aid kit for a Band-Aid. You can also use aid as a verb: "The librarian will aid you in your search." English has some words with meanings related to aid, but they're spelled with an -e on the end, because they come from the French. A nurse's aide is someone who assists a nurse. An aide-de-camp is a close assistant and confidant to a military officer, a word often shortened to just aide, to refer to an assistant to a political official.
Vocabulary lists containing aid
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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 complication comes when these firms seek outside help to aid their cause.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
This is even more alarming in light of reporting this week from The Washington Post that “The number of 9/11 survivors who are receiving aid for cancer has roughly tripled over the last five years.”
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
Catherine carried out the Three Peaks Challenge in June, which involves climbing the highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales within 24 hours, in aid of the Royal Marsden in London.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
International aid to Afghanistan has dropped sharply, with the United Nations saying it had received less than 30 percent of the funding needed to provide life-saving assistance as of late August.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
“We have the headlamps and the GPS. The first aid kit would be nice, but …” She looked at his face.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
To support this future research, the team seeks long-term, open-access AID datasets that include a wide range of sensor measurements of possible factors and a diverse cohort of people with T1D.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024
AID official, was in East Africa to pledge aid to help the region’s fight against hunger amid a devastating multi-year drought.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 27, 2022
The AID provides a different perspective from those of other commonly used metrics.
From Nature ● Apr. 14, 2020
By midmorning, a line snaked out the door of AID Atlanta’s Midtown clinic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2019
“Can you believe they even gave her that AID virus and injected her into monkeys?”
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Aid workers have witnessed such events, and in at least one case filmed them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
He added: "All the live acts are donating their time for free, so it's a mini Live Aid."
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
The account was relayed by the organization Whistleblower Aid, which said it represents the anonymous whistleblower.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
Aid agencies warn that displacement can create additional risks for women and girls because of overcrowding, shared facilities and loss of privacy.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
“Who brought you to the Grotes’?” “Mr. Sorenson from the Children’s Aid Society.”
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
While others with hearing disorders can perceive certain low-frequency vibrations as sound, for Pride almost everything is completely inaudible without powerful hearing aids.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Tongue's position on the crease also aids him in his speciality of targeting the stumps.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Also like Tesla, the automaker is placing a major bet on automated driving aids and eventual self-driving cars, including through paid subscriptions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Services that "do not involve ongoing emotional interaction" such as customer service, work assistants or study aids are not subject to the measures.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
The aids virus may well have jumped into the human race from African primates, from monkeys and anthropoid apes.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
The first leg of yen strength was driven by a BoJ rate hike and a round of government intervention aided by the U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
The videos form part of the lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, which argues the country was complicit and that Bayoumi aided two of the hijackers.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Nepali rescuers, aided by experts from India, China and South Korea, had repeatedly hit walls of hard-packed debris in their search for survivors.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
World trade flows rose sharply in June, aided by the boom in artificial intelligence-related investment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Its extinction in the Southeast had been accomplished — a triumphant demonstration of the worth of scientific creativity, aided by thorough basic research, persistence, and determination.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Foreign experts, including from China, India and South Korea, are aiding Nepali teams.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
O'Neill explained that under North Carolina law, a person accused of aiding and abetting a crime can be held criminally responsible in the same way as the person who carried it out.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
This supports a higher resting energy expenditure, aiding long-term weight maintenance.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
Pronto envisions unmanned tanks aiding firefighters in other former battlegrounds such as Syria and—eventually—Ukraine, part of an array of devices aiding firefighting in hazardous terrain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
With all his strength and with the staff’s power aiding him he struggled to make for that beach.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
