assistant

noun

as·sis·tant ə-ˈsi-stənt

Synonyms of assistant next

: a person who assists someone : helper

also : a person holding an assistantship

: a device or product that provides assistance

software assistants

personal digital assistant

see pda entry 1

assistant adjective

Examples of assistant in a Sentence

an assistant to the college president an assistant to the store manager a wealthy executive who has a personal assistant

Recent Examples on the Web Kennedy worked as a part-time assistant football coach in Bremerton. —

Matt Ford, The New Republic, 8 Sep. 2023 Longtime assistant Bill Dunckel has been named the interim coach. —

John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Sep. 2023 The video shows the senators questioning Matthew Olsen, the assistant attorney general for national security, and Jill Sandborn, then the executive assistant director of the FBI’s national security branch. —

USA TODAY, 7 Sep. 2023 Paxton sends fundraising email during trial The attorney general sent out a fundraising email around the time as Ryan Bangert, his former deputy first assistant attorney general, testified in the trial. —

Aarón Torres, Dallas News, 7 Sep. 2023 Related Story 'Great British Bake Off' Is Making Big Changes Adrianna Freedman As the entertainment and news editorial assistant for Good Housekeeping, Adrianna (she/her) writes about everything TV, movies, music and pop culture. —

Adrianna Freedman, Good Housekeeping, 7 Sep. 2023 Read full bio Sabrina Talbert Sabrina is an editorial assistant for Women’s Health. —

Lindsay Geller, Women's Health, 7 Sep. 2023 Fast-forward to October 2017: Ester had moved back to Brussels to live with Balthazar after working as a womenswear design assistant for Acne Studios in Paris. —

Laure Guilbault, Vogue, 6 Sep. 2023 The incident involving Kennedy and volunteer assistant coach Early Walker took place in the final minutes of Dothan’s 14-7 win over Opelika and attracted statewide attention when a video of it was published on social media. —

Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, 28 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'assistant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English assistent, borrowed from Anglo-French assistant, assistent, noun derivative of assistant, assistent, adjective, "assisting, helpful," from present participle of assister "to help, aid" — more at assist entry 1

Note: In the case of both this word and assistance Modern English has chosen the French form with -a- in the suffix rather than Latin -e-.

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of assistant was in the 15th century

See more words from the same century