Meaning & use
assist
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To help someone do something by giving them effort, advice or support.
Grammar: Usually takes a person as object: assist the nurse. Without an object it is followed by in or with: assist in the search.
Patterns
- assist someone with something
- assist someone in doing something
- assist in something
Volunteers assist visitors with their luggage at the station.
The librarian assisted me in finding an old newspaper.
Two engineers assisted in testing the new bridge.
verbtransitiveformal
To make something easier or more likely to happen, as a tool, factor or condition does.
Grammar: The subject is often a thing, and the object a process or goal: a ramp assists access.
Patterns
- assist something
Warm weather assisted the recovery of the crops.
A good map will assist your navigation.
Exercise can assist digestion.
nouncountablesport
In sports such as basketball, hockey and soccer, a pass or play that directly helps a teammate score.
Grammar: Often counted in statistics: nine points and five assists.
Patterns
- an assist on a goal
- get an assist
She finished the game with twelve points and eight assists.
His late assist set up the winning goal.
The league leader in assists plays point guard.
Word forms
| third person singular | assists |
|---|---|
| past tense | assisted |
| past participle | assisted |
| -ing form | assisting |
| plural (noun) | assists |
Common combinations
- assist with
- Can you assist with the setup before the guests arrive?
- assist in an investigation
- Witnesses were asked to assist in the investigation.
- gladly assist
- Our staff will gladly assist you.
- assist the police
- He agreed to assist the police with their inquiries.
- record an assist
- The forward recorded an assist in each of the last three games.
Synonyms and how they differ
- help
- Help is the everyday word and works in any setting, while assist sounds more formal and often implies a supporting role.
- aid
- Aid suggests giving relief or support to someone in need, and is more common in news and official contexts.
- support
- Support stresses backing someone over time, not just doing a specific task.
- facilitate
- Facilitate means to make a process easier and takes a process as its object, never a person.
Opposites
Word family
- assistance noun
- help or support given to someone
- assistant noun
- a person who helps another, often in a job
- assisted adjective
- done with help, as in assisted living
- unassisted adjective
- done without help
Commonly confused: assist or attend?
assist vs attend
Attend can mean be present at an event, or look after someone, but it does not mean help with a task the way assist does.
Practice
Which sentence uses assist correctly?
Choose one answer.
Assist takes a person as its object and can be followed by to plus a verb or by with or in. The other options use a wrong object or preposition pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “assist”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.