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
Derived Forms
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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Unit 4, Week 1
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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.
Housley worked with Laviolette as one of the Rangers’ assistant coaches between 2023 and 2025.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
“A 5% bump, especially in the retail industry where margins are thin, is a big deal,” says Dmitry Mitrofanov, an assistant professor at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and one of the paper’s authors.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
Referees' chief Pierluigi Collina has created a training hub for the tournament's 52 referees and 88 assistant referees in Miami.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
Apple criticised the law on Monday when it blamed the DMA for its delayed rollout of the AI-enhanced voice assistant Siri, which the EU flatly rejected.
From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026
“Ah!” cried Rosa as Joao and his assistant were thrown to the ground.
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.
