help
Americanverb (used with object)
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helps,
present (3rd person singular)
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helped,
past participle, past
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helping
present participle
-
to give or provide what is necessary to accomplish a task or satisfy a need; contribute strength or means to; render assistance to; cooperate effectively with; aid; assist.
He planned to help me with my work. Let me help you with those packages.
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to save; rescue; succor.
Help me, I'm falling!
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to make easier or less difficult; contribute to; facilitate.
The exercise of restraint is certain to help the achievement of peace.
- Antonyms:
- hinder
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to be useful or profitable to.
Her quick mind helped her career.
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to refrain from; avoid (usually preceded by can orcannot ).
He can't help doing it.
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to relieve or break the uniformity of.
Small patches of bright color can help an otherwise dull interior.
- Synonyms:
- ameliorate
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to relieve (someone) in need, sickness, pain, or distress.
- Antonyms:
- afflict
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to remedy, stop, or prevent.
Nothing will help my headache.
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to serve food to at table (usually followed byto ).
Help her to salad.
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to serve or wait on (a customer), as in a store.
verb (used without object)
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helps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
helped,
past participle, past
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helping
present participle
noun
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help
plural
-
the act of helping; aid or assistance; relief or succor.
-
a person or thing that helps.
She certainly is a help in an emergency.
- Antonyms:
- hindrance
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a body of such helpers.
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a domestic servant or a farm laborer.
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means of remedying, stopping, or preventing.
The thing is done, and there is no help for it now.
-
Older Use. helping.
interjection
verb phrase
idioms
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help oneself to,
-
to serve oneself; take a portion of.
Help yourself to the cake.
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to take or use without asking permission; appropriate.
They helped themselves to the farmer's apples. Help yourself to any of the books we're giving away.
-
-
so help me, (used as a mild form of the oath “so help me God”) I am speaking the truth; on my honor.
That's exactly what happened, so help me.
-
cannot / can't help but, to be unable to refrain from or avoid; be obliged to.
Still, you can't help but admire her.
verb
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to assist or aid (someone to do something), esp by sharing the work, cost, or burden of something
he helped his friend to escape
she helped him climb out of the boat
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to alleviate the burden of (someone else) by giving assistance
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(tr) to assist (a person) to go in a specified direction
help the old lady up from the chair
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to promote or contribute to
to help the relief operations
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to cause improvement in (a situation, person, etc)
crying won't help
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(tr; preceded by can, could, etc; usually used with a negative)
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to avoid or refrain from
we can't help wondering who he is
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(usually foll by it) to prevent or be responsible for
I can't help it if it rains
-
-
to alleviate (an illness, etc)
-
(tr) to serve (a customer)
can I help you, madam?
-
-
to serve (someone with food, etc) (usually in the phrase help oneself )
may I help you to some more vegetables?
help yourself to peas
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to provide (oneself with) without permission
he's been helping himself to money out of the petty cash
-
-
to be unable to do anything else except
I cannot help but laugh
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to assist a person in the removal of (clothes)
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to assist a person in the putting on of (clothes)
-
-
on my honour
-
no matter what
so help me, I'll get revenge
-
noun
-
the act of helping, or being helped, or a person or thing that helps
she's a great help
-
a helping
-
-
a person hired for a job; employee, esp a farm worker or domestic servant
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(functioning as singular) several employees collectively
-
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a means of remedy
there's no help for it
interjection
Usage
Cannot/can't help but has been condemned by some as the ungrammatical version of cannot/can’t help followed by the present participle: You can’t help but admire her. You can’t help admiring her. However, the idiom Cannot/can't help but is so common in all types of speech and writing that it must be characterized as standard.
Synonym Usage
Help, aid, assist, succor agree in the idea of furnishing another with something needed, especially when the need comes at a particular time. Help implies furnishing anything that furthers one's efforts or relieves one's wants or necessities. Aid and assist, somewhat more formal, imply especially a furthering or seconding of another's efforts. Aid implies a more active helping; assist implies less need and less help. To succor, still more formal and literary, is to give timely help and relief in difficulty or distress: Succor him in his hour of need.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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helpernoun
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underhelpnoun
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helpableadjective
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unhelpableadjective
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unhelpedadjective
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well-helpedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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helpsimple
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helpssimple
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have helpedperfect
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has helpedperfect
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am helpingprogressive
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are helpingprogressive
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is helpingprogressive
-
have been helpingperfect progressive
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has been helpingperfect progressive
Past
-
helpedsimple
-
had helpedperfect
-
was helpingprogressive
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were helpingprogressive
-
had been helpingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of help
First recorded before 900; Middle English helpen, Old English helpan; cognate with German helfen
Explanation
The verb help means to give aid or assistance to. You can help your friend organize a car wash at school by making posters and putting them up all over town. Help can also mean to serve food or drink––as in, "Help yourself!" But don't serve yourself too much or there won't be enough for a second helping. One last meaning for help is the people hired to provide domestic services in a home. A nanny, a housekeeper, a gardener are often referred to somewhat derisively as "the help," because their job is helping the family.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"This review will help us answer that question."
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
One possibility proposed by the researchers is that the shape could help younger and smaller sharks swim more efficiently.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
He said the cooperation on AI and the trade corridor could help create an economic interdependence between Armenia, Azerbaijan and other countries in the region that could lead to a durable peace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Her assistant groaned over her calendar; Gloria would say “yes” when asked for help, even if it meant being two places at once.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
By then he’ll have hired more people and won’t need my help like he does now.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
It helps to have a dynamic, special athlete in junior receiver Jalen Flowers, who contributed one touchdown on a short pass, slipping away and outrunning helpless defenders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
It also helps Stanmore avoid up to US$60 million in deferred and contingent acquisition payments that would be owing once the Isaac Downs Extension is developed, the broker says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
LZ is especially sensitive to events of this kind, while its design also helps scientists reduce the chances of mistaking ordinary particle interactions for dark matter.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
"I definitely think it's cool to have a new demographic and I definitely think it helps grow the sport," world number four Coco Gauff said.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
“It helps if you focus on doing something. Like right now, my hands caring for the kalo. The whispers fade away.”
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Zscaler posted a narrower loss after revenue rose 25% in its fiscal fourth-quarter, as AI helped drive demand for its cybersecurity offerings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
"So many things that happened in Soweto helped shape the South Africa we have today," said Kolisi.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
An influx of talented and popular young players — including Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers — helped along those lines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
This week Quentin Fottrell — the Moneyist — helped a 72-year-old widow who provides monthly financial support to her grandson because his mental illness has left him unable to manage his own affairs.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
When it was finally too much and I couldn’t stand, I crawled into the sled and wrapped myself in my sleeping bag—which the man had helped me pack—and let the dogs have me.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
On Earth, plate tectonics plays a major role in volcanism, recycling crustal material and helping build continents.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
The City Council member thanked everyone for helping her “little campaign” but seemed resigned to defeat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Not helping has been the steady decline in the inflation-adjusted price of oil as the partial closure of the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz recently entered its 5,607th day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Rather than turning away from the industry, Syal said she found strength and support in women's groups and began helping others.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
This handsome blonde son had been seized the month before while helping an American parachutist reach the North Sea.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
