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helping 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of helpingnext
1
as in aiding

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Dissimilar Words
2
as in assisting

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Dissimilar Words

helping

2 of 2

verb

present participle of help
1
as in supporting
to provide (someone) with what is useful or necessary to achieve an end offered to help her widowed father when he moved into an apartment

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in alleviating
to make more bearable or less severe the new ointment didn't help Josh's sunburn one bit

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in preventing
to keep from happening by taking action in advance they couldn't help the way things turned out

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4
as in benefiting
to provide with something useful or desirable being independently wealthy certainly helped him during his years as a struggling young artist

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in improving
to make better some minor revisions would help this essay immensely

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of helping
Adjective
And right now, the Eric Dane story isn’t much helping. — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 14 Apr. 2026
Verb
Following Macro-Infrastructure And Job Diversification An investor can analyze which local employers are helping ensure property stability, like in towns that have more than one industry and have modern economic anchors. — Justin Donald, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026 Women have conquered space and awareness, helping to broaden the very concept of leadership. — Wwd Staff, Footwear News, 14 Sep. 2026 But that still doesn't explain why their incomes exploded, helping the top one percent pull away from everyone else. — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 14 Sep. 2026 Such a system could make sure ambulances are available where they’re needed while also helping move patients to appropriate care faster. — Daniel Payne, STAT, 14 Sep. 2026 While looking for his wife’s killer, he gets involved with Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), a bartender who may be helping or manipulating him. — David Faris, TheWeek, 14 Sep. 2026 That might include Medicare or other healthcare premiums, long-term care costs, home maintenance and accessibility modifications, or financially helping adult children or grandchildren. — Faith Wakefield, USA Today, 7 Sep. 2026 Those beds of lightweight, crushable material at the end of a runway have been credited by the FAA with helping save at least 497 lives aboard planes that overran runways. — David Fischer, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2026 Enjoyment, however, does not necessarily tell us whether an interaction is helping us. — Paul Jones, Scientific American, 7 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for helping
  1. supportive
  2. assisting
  3. alleviating
  4. preventing
  5. benefiting
  6. improving
  7. assistant
  8. aiding
Adjective
  • That’s City Controller Kenneth Mejia, an incumbent who earned more votes than Bass, Raman or then-candidate Spencer Pratt, and who’s supportive of Raman’s approach to the city budget.
    — Paris Barraza, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Ahead of the ruling, Chuck Hatfield, an attorney for the referendum campaign, pointed to the fact that the lawsuit included plaintiffs and defendants who were both supportive of the gerrymandered map.
    — Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of supportive
Verb
  • Under Beijing’s tightening grip, lawyers assisting those whom authorities viewed as dissidents also have faced pressure.
    — Kanis Leung, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Thank you to the first responders who are assisting at the scene.
    — Natalie Neysa Alund, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of assisting
Verb
  • Europe’s efforts are for now too modest, too regulated, too fragmented, and too focused on alleviating government restrictions rather than promoting commercial use to fundamentally change dependencies that have accumulated over decades.
    — Kurt M. Campbell, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026
  • In 2021, in hopes of alleviating economic pressures during the pandemic, Congress passed legislation eliminating premiums for people with the lowest incomes and reduced the cost for people with higher incomes.
    — Robert Applebaum, The Conversation, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of alleviating
Verb
  • The real value comes from reducing exploitable attack paths, preventing repeat weaknesses and strengthening defenses across the environment.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2026
  • But the partnership with W88 was halted due to new rules preventing Premier League clubs from being sponsored by companies with links to gambling.
    — Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of preventing
Verb
  • That was almost derailed Sunday at home in their season opener, even after benefiting from a first-half call that erased a New Orleans Saints touchdown.
    — Colton Pouncy, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
  • And Texas Democrats hope the spotlight on the state ends up benefiting their candidates.
    — Bill Barrow, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of benefiting
Verb
  • Many of the biggest AI safety fears revolve around advanced models getting increasingly capable at improving their own performance, a technique known as recursive self-improvement, or RSI.
    — Kai Nicol-Schwarz, CNBC, 10 Sep. 2026
  • The numbers don’t favor an improving team in that regard — but remember, the Cowboys should have top quarterback play, top receivers, good-to-great offensive line play and a good-to-great run game.
    — Zak Keefer, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of improving
Adjective
  • Wyatt Lohaus is joining the Kings as an assistant video coordinator after spending the 2025-26 season as a fellow with the Mississippi State men’s basketball program.
    — Jason Anderson, Sacbee.com, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Track how often your products appear in assistant answers, and track launch-window products apart from the catalog average, because the aggregate hides the cohort at risk.
    — Srijith Ravikumar, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of assistant
Verb
  • Time to Own, on the other hand, has targeted the housing crisis from the opposite direction by aiding prospective buyers who can meet monthly payments but can’t swing all of the upfront costs as well.
    — Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 8 Sep. 2026
  • In July 2025, Wolfson found Barahona competent, ruling that Barahona was capable of aiding his attorneys and understands the severity of the penalties should he be found guilty.
    — Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of aiding

Phrases Containing helping

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helpfully
helping
helping hand
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Cite this Entry

“Helping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/helping. Accessed 16 Sep. 2026.

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