ASSISTANT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does assistant mean? 

• ASSISTANT (noun)
  The noun ASSISTANT has 1 sense:

1. a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose

  Familiarity information: ASSISTANT used as a noun is very rare.

• ASSISTANT (adjective)
  The adjective ASSISTANT has 1 sense:

1. of or relating to a person who is subordinate to another

  Familiarity information: ASSISTANT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ASSISTANT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

assistant; help; helper; supporter

Context example:

they hired additional help to finish the work

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

worker (a person who works at a specific occupation)

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

cat's-paw; instrument; pawn (a person used by another to gain an end)

whipper-in (huntsman's assistant in managing the hounds)

water boy; waterer (an assistant who supplies drinking water)

foot soldier; subordinate; subsidiary; underling (an assistant subject to the authority or control of another)

sidesman ((Church of England) an assistant to the churchwarden; collects offerings of money in the church)

secretarial assistant; secretary (an assistant who handles correspondence and clerical work for a boss or an organization)

chief assistant; man Friday; right-hand man (the most helpful assistant)

prompter; theater prompter (someone who assists a performer by providing the next words of a forgotten speech)

powder monkey (someone who carries explosives (as from the magazine to the guns on board a warship))

paraprofessional (a trained worker who is not a member of a profession but who assists a professional)

model; poser (a person who poses for a photographer or painter or sculptor)

fashion model; manakin; manikin; mannequin; mannikin; model (a woman who wears clothes to display fashions)

underboss (an assistant or second-in-command to a chief (especially in a crime syndicate))

birthing coach; doula; labor coach; monitrice (an assistant (often the father of the soon-to-be-born child) who provides support for a woman in labor by encouraging her to use techniques learned in childbirth-preparation classes)

coadjutor (an assistant to a bishop)

enforcer; hatchet man (one whose job it is to execute unpleasant tasks for a superior)

girl Friday (a female assistant who has a range of duties)

flower girl (a young girl who carries flowers in a (wedding) procession)

facilitator (someone who makes progress easier)

event planner (someone who plans social events as a profession (usually for government or corporate officials))

actor's assistant; dresser (a wardrobe assistant for an actor)

deputy; lieutenant (an assistant with power to act when his superior is absent)

dental assistant (an assistant to a dentist)

bat boy ((baseball) a boy who takes care of bats and other baseball equipment)

attendant; attender; tender (someone who waits on or tends to or attends to the needs of another)

aide; auxiliary (someone who acts as assistant)

accomplice; confederate (a person who joins with another in carrying out some plan (especially an unethical or illegal plan))

Derivation:

assist (act as an assistant in a subordinate or supportive function)

assist (give help or assistance; be of service)

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

• ASSISTANT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to a person who is subordinate to another

Synonyms:

adjunct; assistant

Similar:

low-level; subordinate (lower in rank or importance)

Derivation:

assist (act as an assistant in a subordinate or supportive function)

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

 Context examples 

“Third right, fourth left,” answered the assistant promptly, closing the door.

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

A discovery made by Junhwan Kim, PhD, assistant professor at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, is challenging science's longstanding beliefs regarding the cellular makeup of the brain.

(Discovery Challenges Belief about Brain's Cellular Makeup, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Two men do the work, boss and assistant.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

An assistant professor of physics at Syracuse University is studying these materials, searching for the defects in each that produce a crack-like fissure called a shear band.

(Materials, like metallic glass, can help us understand how cells break, NSF)

Sidy Ndao, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering, said his research group's development of a nano-thermal-mechanical device, or thermal diode, came after flipping around the question of how to better cool computers.

(Harnessing Heat to Power Computers, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

With my enfeebled health I do not know whether I shall ever be able to complete it, now that my assistant has been taken from me.

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

Oh! certainly, cried his faithful assistant, no one can be really esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

"While snow likes to give up electrons, the performance of the device depends on the efficiency of the other material at extracting these electrons," Maher El-Kady, co-author and assistant researcher at UCLA, says.

(Nanogenerator Creates Electricity from Snowfall, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Blindfolding them made walking extremely difficult, causing them to stagger and stumble from side to side while assistants prevented them from falling.

(“Sixth sense” may be more than just a feeling, NIH)

We read every letter, so Courtney, my executive assistant, instantly showed it to me.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)