public assistance

[ puhb-lik uh-sis-tuhns ]

noun

1. government aid to poor, disabled, or aged people or to dependent children, as financial assistance or food stamps.

public assistance

noun

1. payment given to individuals by government agencies on the basis of need

Other Words From

• pub·lic-as·sis·tance adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of public assistance¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

In 1975, the federal child support program was founded with the explicit purpose of getting fathers to repay the government for public assistance that mothers had received.

From ProPublica

Paradoxically, many lack access to sick days, paid leave, and affordable healthcare and cannot afford the very services they provide to others, leaving many to depend on public assistance to meet their own family’s needs.

From Time

While there, I promoted medical freedom legislation, programs to increase limitations on public assistance programs and school privatization programs.

From Washington Post

At-risk students — defined as students whose families are homeless or recipients of certain public assistance — lost five months of math and four months of reading.

From Washington Post

According to estimates from the Center for American Progress, nearly 50% of day-care centers could be forced to shut down if they don’t receive more public assistance.

From Fortune

I worked in CHA housing projects for five years, processing public assistance applications.

From The Daily Beast

I worked in CHA Housing Projects for five years, processing public assistance applications.

From The Daily Beast

Voth asked if the ATF could arrest him for fraudulently accepting public assistance when he was spending such huge sums.

From The Daily Beast

In the first place, he was received very coldly at the Office of Public Assistance.

From Project Gutenberg

This vast community of indigence and madness is under the control of the general administration of Public Assistance.

From Project Gutenberg

I demand that this petition be referred to the Committee of Public Assistance to be promptly dealt with.

From Project Gutenberg

Still, the following entries prove that occasionally incipient Cambridge men received public assistance.

From Project Gutenberg

In proportion as we realize the force of this argument, we reverse our view as to the nature of public assistance in such a case.

From Project Gutenberg