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

The upshot is fewer support calls and help desk tickets. —Mark Sparrow, Forbes.com, 4 June 2025

Those attacks impacted customers who reached out to the company's help desk in 2024 or earlier. —Jibin Joseph, PC Magazine, 3 June 2025

For example, instead of summarizing a help desk ticket, an agent can route it to the right team and close the loop automatically, in real time. —Leslie Lee, Forbes.com, 12 June 2025

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

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