help desk

noun

plural help desks

: a department or person that provides assistance and information usually for electronic or computer problems

Adding a work account is easier than it used to be, but if you're a technophobe, or if your company requires special security settings, call your help desk.

—Jeremy Caplan

—often hyphenated when used before another noun

help-desk questions

Pleas to reset forgotten passwords account for half of help-desk calls to Web sites, says RSA Security.

—Victoria Murphy Barret

Examples of help desk in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There are tasks like help desks where people have to do the same cumbersome, tedious tasks over and over. —Alon Goren, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025

Franklin also noted this expenditure on HR help desks and software to handle employee cases. —Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Mar. 2025

While passengers at London’s second-largest airport, Gatwick, which received many flights that had been headed to Heathrow, stood in long lines at help desks. —Emma Bubola, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2025

But while some industry insiders are already writing obituaries for in-person tourist support centers, destinations around Asia are actually increasing the number of traveler help desks. —Lilit Marcus, CNN Money, 13 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for help desk

• burlesque
• grotesque
• arabesque
• picaresque
• romanesque
• statuesque
• carnivalesque

Kids Definition

help desk

noun

: a department or person that provides help or information usually for electronic or computer problems