assistant

noun

as·​sis·​tant ə-ˈsi-stənt 

1

: a person who assists someone : helper

also : a person holding an assistantship

2

: a device or product that provides assistance

software assistants

personal digital assistant

assistant adjective

Synonyms of assistant

• aide
• apprentice
• deputy
• aid
• adjutant
• sidekick

Examples of assistant in a Sentence

an assistant to the college president

an assistant to the store manager

a wealthy executive who has a personal assistant

Recent Examples on the Web

Timothy Westlake, who was nominated to serve as assistant secretary for mental health and substance use at the Department of Health and Human Services, was also advanced out of committee on the same en bloc vote. — Arkansas Online, 1 Oct. 2026

That includes deploying internal AI assistants and coding tools to handle repetitive tasks. — Morgan Chittum, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2026

Brown, who served as the union’s chief of staff and as special assistant to ex-International President Newton Jones, is the first of eight former Boilermakers to be sentenced in the federal corruption case. — Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 1 Oct. 2026

Hawks spent two decades working as an executive assistant at the Sacred Hearts School, a private Catholic school in the tony Silicon Valley town of Atherton, before her retirement in 2021. — Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English assistent, borrowed from Anglo-French assistant, assistent, noun derivative of assistant, assistent, adjective, "assisting, helpful," from present participle of assister "to help, aid" — more at assist entry 1

Note: In the case of both this word and assistance Modern English has chosen the French form with -a- in the suffix rather than Latin -e-.

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing assistant

• assistant professor
• personal digital assistant
• physician assistant
• physician's assistant
• sales assistant
• teaching assistant

Rhymes for assistant

• consistent
• existent
• insistent
• persistent
• resistant
• subsistent
• coexistent
• equidistant
• inconsistent
• nonexistent
• preexistent
• distant

Kids Definition

assistant

noun

as·​sis·​tant ə-ˈsis-tənt 

: a person who assists another : helper

assistant adjective