Library / English Dictionary

ASSIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

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:

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)

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Example:

offered his help in unloading

Synonyms:

aid; assist; assistance; help

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

activity (any specific behavior)

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

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

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)

Derivation:

assist (work for or be a servant to)

assist (give help or assistance; be of service)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

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 2

Meaning:

Work for or be a servant to

Example:

The minister served the King for many years

Synonyms:

assist; attend; attend to; serve; wait on

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

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)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Give help or assistance; be of service

Example:

She never helps around the house

Synonyms:

aid; assist; help

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The result supports a theory that the origin of life may have been assisted by a supply of key molecules created in space and brought to Earth by comet and meteor impacts.

(Vitamin B3 might have been made in space, delivered to Earth by meteorites, NASA)

In September 2013, it was reactivated, renamed NEOWISE and assigned a new mission: to assist NASA's efforts to identify the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects.

(Asteroid-Hunting Spacecraft Delivers a Second Year of Data, NASA)

The tissue could provide a superior model for studying normal brain function as well as injury and disease, and could assist in the development of new treatments for brain dysfunction.

(Bioengineers create functional 3D brain-like tissue, NIH)

At these high resolutions, there is enough information in the structure to reliably assist drug design and development efforts.

(Near-atomic resolution of protein structure by electron microscopy holds promise for drug discovery, NIH)

I thought that, perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand, you might care to assist us in a most remarkable case, which occurred only last night at Hampstead.

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

As to my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may assist you in forming an opinion.

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

Mason, supported by Mr. Rochester and the surgeon, seemed to walk with tolerable ease: they assisted him into the chaise; Carter followed.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I am very much obliged to anybody who assists me, and I only want to be consulted as a mere form, sometimes.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She had no natural connexions to assist her even with their counsel, and she could not afford to purchase the assistance of the law.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the casualties of war proper being assisted by famine and disease.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)