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

Their website, which now only directs visitors to a help desk email, once hosted a schedule of 30 activities per day, making the high ticket cost appear more reasonable. —Grace Bellinghausen, Sun Sentinel, 30 Mar. 2026

Both platforms excel at core help desk functionality, including ticket management, knowledge base creation, reporting, integrations, admin controls, and customer support. —John Brandon, PC Magazine, 8 Mar. 2026

Their alumni go on to work at Big Tech companies like Google and Amazon, at banks like Wells Fargo, and in local government as software engineers, help desk and IT technicians, and systems administrators. —Jacqueline Munis, Fortune, 6 Feb. 2026

Intermountain has processed over 70,000 IT help desk tickets using an AI tool. —Bob Herman, STAT, 20 Jan. 2026

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