Assistant is used in front of titles or jobs to indicate a slightly lower rank. For example, an assistant director is one rank lower than a director in an organization.
...the Assistant Secretary of Defense.
...a young assistant professor at Harvard.
2. countable noun
Someone's assistant is a person who helps them in their work.
Kalan called his assistant, Hashim, to take over while he went out.
The salesman had been accompanied to the meeting by an assistant.
Synonyms: helper, partner, ally, colleague More Synonyms of assistant
3. countable noun
An assistant is a person who works in a shop selling things to customers.
The assistant took the book and checked the price on the back cover.
She got a job as a sales assistant selling handbags.
Synonyms: salesperson, shop assistant, checkout person, retail assistant More Synonyms of assistant
assistant in British English
(əˈsɪstənt)
noun
1.
a.
a person who assists, esp in a subordinate position
b.
(as modifier)
assistant manager
2. shop assistant
adjective
3. archaic
helpful or useful as an aid
assistant in American English
(əˈsɪstənt)
adjective
1.
assisting; helping; that serves as a helper
noun
2.
a person who assists or serves in a subordinate position; helper
3.
a thing that aids
Examples of 'assistant' in a sentence
assistant
The shop assistant put it in a bag.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Her father was a postman and her mother worked as an assistant in a school canteen.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
A personal assistant has to wait by the door and have the sunglasses and the shoes ready.
The Sun (2016)
In the new dossier is a video of an assistant manager at a top club accepting 5,000 in a dodgy deal.
The Sun (2016)
He had one of his assistants take a written message down to the bench, although that is not an offence.
The Sun (2016)
Shop assistants bark'And your email?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
THE good news is that my digital personal assistant has found screening times for the film Snowden.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
First, a research assistant placed an object in one of the two boxes, with a second person then moving the object to the other box.
Smithsonian Mag (2017)
She protested to three senior members of staff but they backed the checkout assistant.
The Sun (2009)
One male shop assistant was cruising up and down the store on a delivery trolley.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
She then chats with her guests before leaving for work as a school assistant.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
It charts what happens when an actress hires a pal to work as her personal assistant.
The Sun (2014)
One is a healthcare assistant who works all day dealing with bodily fluids.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Villa have been rightly protective of their assistant manager.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
At least one assistant told me it was true.
The Sun (2007)
Three parents have become qualified teaching assistants at neighbouring schools.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
The university research assistant is appealing for independent volunteers to witness his attempt.
The Sun (2015)
Teaching assistants just scooped it up from under me.
The Sun (2013)
She claims they had a studio assistant whose main job was folding the ends of loo rolls into points.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
But a very helpful assistant explained clearly how to attach it and watched to make sure it was properly secured.
The Sun (2011)
Shop assistants may encourage you to use this form of payment if they feel you are unable to pay cash.
Tondeur, Keith Say Goodbye to Debt (1994)
There may be differences in the ways people speak to their boss and the way they speak to a shop assistant.
Vera Peiffer POSITIVE THINKING: Everything you have always known about positive thinking but wereafraid to put into practice (2001)
How trustworthy is your personal assistant?
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Thousands of young people are turning their backs on shop assistants and instead using technology to ask their friends for advice from afar.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
More than 600 students work as volunteer teaching assistants in local schools.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Teaching assistants work alongside teachers, helping pupils to get the most out of their learning.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
At one stage, he pushed one of his assistants.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
It's almost like having a research assistant collecting and organizing stories.
Christianity Today (2000)
The assistant producer backs away, with a terrified look in his eyes.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
I then felt courageous enough to go to a department store and the assistants were really helpful.
The Sun (2014)
We learned how to be professors by spending time around professors, as students and then as assistant professors.
Pressley, Michael & McCormick, Christine Advanced Educational Psychology For Educators, Researchers and Policymakers, (1995)
The strain of trying to complete the Model while holding down his proper job as assistant military secretary was clearly proving too much.
Malcolm Balen A Model Victory (2005)
I'm now an assistant professor there.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
In other languages
assistant
British English: assistant /əˈsɪstənt/ NOUN
Someone's assistant is a person who helps them in their work.
...a research assistant.
American English: assistant
Arabic: مُسَاعِد
Brazilian Portuguese: assistente
Chinese: 助手
Croatian: pomoćnik
Czech: asistent
Danish: assistent
Dutch: assistent
European Spanish: ayudante
Finnish: avustaja
French: assistant
German: Assistent
Greek: βοηθός
Italian: assistente
Japanese: 助手
Korean: 조수
Norwegian: assistent
Polish: asystent
European Portuguese: assistente
Romanian: asistent
Russian: помощник
Latin American Spanish: ayudante
Swedish: assistent
Thai: ผู้ช่วย
Turkish: yardımcı
Ukrainian: помічник
Vietnamese: trợ lý
All related terms of 'assistant'
assistant judge
a person who assists a judge in their work or who is not yet fully qualified as a judge
care assistant
a person who is paid to look after one or more severely disabled people staying in residential accommodation
chief assistant
the most important or top-ranking assistant to an official
sales assistant
a person who processes orders, arranges stock and helps customers in a retail shop
shop assistant
A shop assistant is a person who works in a shop selling things to customers .
voice assistant
a voice-activated piece of software that can supply information and perform certain types of task
assistant driller
An assistant driller is someone whose job is to help a driller, and work at the drilling controls on the rig floor .
assistant editor
a person who assists an editor in their work
assistant lecturer
A lecturer is a teacher at a university or college.
assistant manager
a person who assists a manager in their work
assistant master
a person who assists a teacher in their work or who is not yet fully qualified as a teacher
assistant mistress
a person who assists a teacher in their work or who is not yet fully qualified as a teacher
assistant pastor
A pastor is a member of the Christian clergy in some Protestant churches.
assistant priest
a person who assists a priest in their work or who is not yet fully qualified as a priest
assistant referee
A assistant referee is an official who assists the referee or umpire in games such as football and tennis by indicating when the ball goes over the lines around the edge of the field or court.
assistant teacher
a person who assists a teacher in their work or who is not yet fully qualified as a teacher
personal assistant
A personal assistant is a person who does office work and administrative work for someone. The abbreviation → PA is also used.
research assistant
a graduate who is employed on a temporary or part-time basis to assist the university with academic research
teaching assistant
In the United States, a teaching assistant is a graduate student at a college or university who teaches some classes .
virtual assistant
A virtual assistant is a wireless electronic device that can respond to spoken commands , for example by giving information.
wardrobe assistant
a person who assists the wardrobe mistress in a theatre
assistant librarian
a person who assists a librarian in their work or who is not yet fully qualified as a librarian
assistant principal
a person who assists a principal in their work
assistant professor
a university teacher lower in rank than an associate professor
assistant secretary
a person who assists a secretary in their work
classroom assistant
a person whose job is to help a schoolteacher in the classroom
laboratory assistant
someone who assists with work in a building or room equipped for conducting scientific research or for teaching practical science, such as by cleaning and sterilizing equipment
physician assistant
a person trained and certified to perform various medical procedures under the supervision of a physician
physician's assistant
A physician's assistant is a person who is trained to do some of the same work that a doctor does but who is not a doctor.
probationary assistant
a teacher in the first probationary years
administrative assistant
a person employed to aid an executive , as in a corporate department, by coordinating such office services and procedures as the supervision, maintenance , and control of the flow of work and programs , personnel , budgeting , records, etc., for the entire department
video assistant referee
a technology allowing refereeing assistants to examine video playback of incidents in a match as soon as they occur, and advise the referee on decisions
learning support assistant
a person whose job is to help a schoolteacher in the classroom
personal digital assistant
a palmtop computer for storing information
Chinese translation of 'assistant'
assistant
(əˈsɪstənt)
n(c)
(= helper) 助手 (zhùshǒu) (个(個), gè)
(Brit, in shop) 营(營)业(業)员(員) (yíngyèyuán) (个(個), gè)