ASSIST

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does assist mean? 

• ASSIST (noun)
  The noun ASSIST has 2 senses:

1. the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose

2. (sports) the act of enabling another player to make a good play

  Familiarity information: ASSIST used as a noun is rare.

• ASSIST (verb)
  The verb ASSIST has 3 senses:

1. give help or assistance; be of service

2. act as an assistant in a subordinate or supportive function

3. work for or be a servant to

  Familiarity information: ASSIST used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ASSIST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

aid; assist; assistance; help

Context example:

offered his help in unloading

Hypernyms ("assist" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assist"):

facilitation (act of assisting or making easier the progress or improvement of something)

hand; helping hand (physical assistance)

recourse; refuge; resort (act of turning to for assistance)

thanks (with the help of or owing to)

ministration; relief; succor; succour (assistance in time of difficulty)

lift (the act of giving temporary assistance)

service (an act of help or assistance)

accommodation (the act of providing something (lodging or seat or food) to meet a need)

boost; encouragement (the act of giving hope or support to someone)

comfort (assistance, such as that provided to an enemy or to a known criminal)

support (aiding the cause or policy or interests of)

self-help (the act of helping or improving yourself without relying on anyone else)

Derivation:

assist (work for or be a servant to)

assist (give help or assistance; be of service)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(sports) the act of enabling another player to make a good play

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("assist" is a kind of...):

maneuver; manoeuvre; play (a deliberate coordinated movement requiring dexterity and skill)

Domain category:

ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)

basketball; basketball game; hoops (a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop)

hockey; hockey game; ice hockey (a game played on an ice rink by two opposing teams of six skaters each who try to knock a flat round puck into the opponents' goal with angled hockey sticks)

• ASSIST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they assist    ... he / she / it assists   
Past simple: assisted   
Past participle: assisted   
-ing form: assisting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give help or assistance; be of service

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

aid; assist; help

Context example:

She never helps around the house

Hypernyms (to "assist" is one way to...):

back up; support (give moral or psychological support, aid, or courage to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assist"):

alleviate; ease; facilitate (make easier)

assist; attend; attend to; serve; wait on (work for or be a servant to)

benefact (help as a benefactor)

help out (be of help, as in a particular situation of need)

subserve (be helpful or useful)

succor; succour (help in a difficult situation)

expedite; hasten (speed up the progress of; facilitate)

avail (be of use to, be useful to)

care; give care (provide care for)

bootstrap (help oneself, often through improvised means)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot assist Sue

Derivation:

assist; assistance (the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose)

assistant (a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose)

assistive (giving assistance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Act as an assistant in a subordinate or supportive function

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "assist" is one way to...):

work (exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assist"):

abet (assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing)

protect (use tariffs to favor domestic industry)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

assistant (a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose)

assistant (of or relating to a person who is subordinate to another)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Work for or be a servant to

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

assist; attend; attend to; serve; wait on

Context example:

The minister served the King for many years

Hypernyms (to "assist" is one way to...):

aid; assist; help (give help or assistance; be of service)

Verb group:

serve (devote (part of) one's life or efforts to, as of countries, institutions, or ideas)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assist"):

valet (serve as a personal attendant to)

fag (act as a servant for older boys, in British public schools)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody with something

Sentence example:

Sam cannot assist Sue

Derivation:

assist (the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose)

 Context examples 

Glumdalclitch stood on a stool on the floor near my table, to assist and take care of me.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Following head injury, the protective lining that surrounds the brain may get a little help from its friends: immune cells that spring into action to assist with repairs.

(Scientists watch the brain’s lining heal after a head injury, National Institutes of Health)

"I had not thought of that. But then you have relatives, somebody who could assist you?"

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

What would they do to assist them?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The only civil servants not assigned to assist in the vaccination effort were those working on water and electricity.

(Samoan government temporarily shuts down for nationwide measles vaccination drive, Wikinews)

OSIRIS-REx will make a swing by Earth next year to gain a gravity assist that will accelerate it even faster to reach Bennu, where it will eventually go into orbit.

(Evening Launch Catapults OSIRIS-REx Toward Asteroid Encounter, NASA)

If the lipid does indeed assist in activating brown fat in humans, it may offer a route toward therapies, and the route may attract particular interest because we produce this substance naturally.

(Giving Brown Fat A Green Light, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The most common heart medications may get an assist from nitric oxide circulating in the body, according to a new study out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

(Heart Disease Severity May Depend on Nitric Oxide Levels, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

According to the authors, MOXI is the largest randomized, placebo-controlled trial to examine the effects of antioxidants, without additional assisted reproductive technology, on male infertility.

(Antioxidant supplements do not improve male fertility, National Institutes of Health)

The activated T-cells divide rapidly, pumping out increased numbers of cytokines, proteins that assist them in an active and excessive immune response.

(When Liver Immune Cells Turn Bad, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)