Meaning & use
a helping hand
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiomfigurative
Practical assistance that someone gives to another person, often a small act that makes a task easier.
Grammar: Usually follows give, lend or offer: lend someone a helping hand.
Patterns
- give someone a helping hand
- lend a helping hand
- offer someone a helping hand
Could you lend me a helping hand with these boxes?
Neighbors offered a helping hand after the flood.
He gave his younger sister a helping hand with her homework.
Common combinations
- lend a helping hand
- Volunteers lent a helping hand at the food bank.
- give someone a helping hand
- A teacher gave me a helping hand when I was struggling.
- offer a helping hand
- She offered a helping hand to new employees.
- need a helping hand
- I need a helping hand with the moving.
- extend a helping hand
- The charity extended a helping hand to refugees.
Synonyms and how they differ
- assistance
- Assistance is a more formal word for help, whereas a helping hand sounds friendly and informal.
- support
- Support suggests ongoing or emotional help, while a helping hand is usually a practical, one-time act.
- favor
- A favor is something done as a kindness and may cost the helper effort, while a helping hand is simply helping.
- a hand
- A hand is the shortened informal form, as in can you give me a hand.
Word family
Commonly confused: a helping hand or handout?
a helping hand vs handout
A handout is something given, such as money, food or a paper, while a helping hand is help with a task.
Practice
My car broke down, and a stranger stopped to give me ___.
Choose one answer.
A helping hand means practical assistance. A cold shoulder means deliberate unfriendliness, the opposite of stopping to help.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a helping hand”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.