assistant

[ uh-sis-tuhnt ]

noun

1. a person who assists or gives aid and support; helper.
2. 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.

   Synonyms: adjutant, aide

3. something that aids and supplements another.
4. 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

1. assisting; helpful.
2. serving in an immediately subordinate position; of secondary rank:

   an assistant coach.

assistant

/ əˈsɪstənt /

noun

1. 1. a person who assists, esp in a subordinate position
   2. ( as modifier )

      assistant manager

2. See shop assistant
   See shop assistant

adjective

1. archaic.
   helpful or useful as an aid

Other Words From

• nonas·sistant noun
• unas·sistant adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of assistant¹

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”; assist

Example Sentences

Mimi Gehin, a director’s assistant for global production company Stink Films, lives with five other people in a warehouse in East London.

From Digiday

That shared trait, he said, may help researchers find a way to get proof assistants to, in some sense, explain themselves.

From Quanta Magazine

Fitbit had more success with the $200 Versa, released in 2018, and last year’s follow up, the Versa 2, which first added the ability to connect with Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa.

From Fortune

Jessie Buckley is fantastic as her long-suffering British assistant Rosalyn Wilder and Rufus Sewell is fascinating as Judy’s third husband Sid Luft.

From Washington Blade

Hannah Kerner is an assistant research professor at the University of Maryland in College Park.

From MIT Technology Review

The garrulous assistant to a fading screen siren in Clouds of Sils Maria.

From The Daily Beast

Thankfully, his assistant knows these roads like the back of his hand.

From The Daily Beast

Through a work-study program with the school, he is a Program Assistant at the UNC-Chapel Hill LGBT Center.

From The Daily Beast

The assistant manager at the A&F store had found Elauf qualified for the position and was apparently going to hire her.

From The Daily Beast

I spent four years in a prison where each handicapped convict was issued an underpaid inmate assistant.

From The Daily Beast

Of the parts the young assistant of Nicolas Amati was allowed to put his individuality to, conspicuously stands the scroll.

From Project Gutenberg

Sometimes the tracing down may have been done by some advanced pupil or competent assistant.

From Project Gutenberg

The Assistant Commissioner, hand pressed to brow, began to study a document which lay before him.

From Project Gutenberg

"Certainly—certainly," said the Assistant Commissioner, waving one large hand in the direction of a bookshelf.

From Project Gutenberg

"Certainly—certainly," murmured the Assistant Commissioner, glancing up absently.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• aide
• apprentice
• associate
• attendant
• backup
• colleague
• companion
• deputy
• friend
• partner
• representative
• secretary