DictionaryAI

assist

uh-SIST/əˈsɪst/

Verbassists, assisting, assisted

Noun pluralassists

8 meanings of assist

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive or intransitive
    To give help or support to a person or effort.

    Nurses assist surgeons throughout long operations.

    A local guide assisted the tourists in finding their hotel.

    Similarhelp, aid, support

    Oppositehinder, hamper, obstruct, impede

    Note

    Behind the everyday sense is a picture of standing: Latin assistō meant "to stand at," and helping grew from standing by someone. The verb takes a direct object, either a person or a process (assist officials, assist the learning process). The task then follows with in plus an -ing form: assist you in getting your life in order.

  2. 2
    nouncountable
    A helpful action, or a contribution that aids someone's effort.

    The new scheduling software is a real assist for busy accountants.

    Small assists from each team member added up to a big result.

    Similarhelp, boost, aid, contribution

    Oppositehindrance

  3. 3
    nouncountable
    A decisive pass that leads directly to a teammate scoring a goal.

    The midfielder's assist split the defense wide open.

    He finished the season with twelve goals and eighteen assists.

    Note

    Football keeps its assists as a statistic. The final pass before a goal is credited, and usually only that last pass counts. Goals and assists are reported together as a pair of numbers: David Hytner, writing in 2016, gives Mesut Özil 16 Premier League assists against three goals. Unlike the baseball fielding credit, this assist always points toward scoring.

  4. 4
    verbintransitive
    To make a pass that leads directly to a teammate scoring.

    She assisted twice in the championship game.

    Forwards who assist as often as they score are highly valued.

    Note

    Sports turned the helping verb into a statistic. To assist is to supply the pass a teammate converts, and the passer is credited for it. The verb often stands without an object (she assisted twice), or takes on before the score (he assisted on the winner). It is the action behind the counted scoring pass.

  5. 5
    nouncountable
    A defensive play that enables a teammate to complete a putout, such as a fielder's throw that retires a runner.

    The second baseman recorded an assist on the double play.

    Her arm strength produced dozens of outfield assists that season.

    Note

    Baseball gives the word to the defense. A fielder who throws or touches the ball before a teammate completes a putout earns the assist. Nothing is scored; instead, a runner is retired. A single play can credit several fielders, and an outfielder with a strong arm collects outfield assists by throwing runners out.

  6. 6
    verbtransitive
    To compensate for a missing or impaired bodily function using a medical technique or therapy.

    The device assists circulation in patients with heart failure.

    Ventilators assist breathing when the lungs cannot work on their own.

    Similarsupport, aid

    Note

    Clinical English points the verb at a function rather than a person: a device assists breathing or circulation, not the patient. The past participle does much of the work as an adjective, in phrases such as assisted ventilation and assisted reproduction, where a technique supplies what the body cannot. The word names support for what is missing, not a cure.

Less common meanings

  1. 7
    verbarchaic
    To station oneself at a particular place, or to hold to a particular opinion.

    The watchmen assist at the city wall each evening.

    He assisted to his judgment though all the others disagreed.

    Note

    The verb's literal standing survives here, the Latin picture behind the everyday "help" sense. The preposition carries the meaning: assist at a place, assist to an opinion, as in "a great part of the nobility assisted to his opinion." A modern reader will hear "help," so outside historical pastiche use stood by or held to instead.

  2. 8
    verbarchaic
    To be present at an event, occasion, or gathering.

    Dignitaries assist at the coronation in great numbers.

    To assist at Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation.
    1967, The Rev. Loren Gavitt (ed.), Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for members of the Episcopal Church
    Note

    Here the verb means attend, the meaning French still gives assister à. Edward Gibbon uses it in Memoirs of My Life (1789), where he "assisted with pleasure" at several tragedies and comedies. It lingers in devotional phrasing such as "assist at Mass" in Saint Augustine's Prayer Book (1967). In older prose, read assisted at as "was present at," not "helped out."

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English "assisten," from Old French "assister" (to assist, to attend), which comes from Latin "assistō" meaning to stand at.