aid

[ eyd ]
See synonyms for aid on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object)
  1. to provide support for or relief to; help: to aid the victims of the fire.

  2. to promote the progress or accomplishment of; facilitate.

verb (used without object)
  1. to give help or assistance.

noun
  1. help or support; assistance.

  2. a person or thing that aids or furnishes assistance; helper; auxiliary.

  1. aids, Manège.

    • Also called natural aids . the means by which a rider communicates with and controls a horse, as the hands, legs, voice, and shifts in weight.

    • Also called artificial aids . the devices used by a rider to increase control of a horse, as spurs, whip, and martingale.

  2. a payment made by feudal vassals to their lord on special occasions.

  3. English History. (after 1066) any of several revenues received by a king in the Middle Ages from his vassals and other subjects, limited by the Magna Charta to specified occasions.

Origin of aid

1
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English noun aide, eide, from Anglo-French, Old French aide, derivative of verb aid(i)er, from Latin adjūtāre “to help”; see also adjuvant

synonym study For aid

1. See help.

confusables note For aid

Although the nouns aid and aide both have among their meanings “an assisting person,” the spelling aide is increasingly used for the sense “helper, assistant”: One of the senator's aides is calling. Aide in military use is short for aide-de-camp. It is also the spelling in nurse's aide.

Other words for aid

Opposites for aid

Other words from aid

  • aid·er, noun
  • aid·ful, adjective
  • aid·less, adjective
  • un·aid·ed, adjective
  • un·aid·ed·ly, adverb
  • un·aid·ing, adjective

Words that may be confused with aid

  • 1. aid , aide (see usage note at the current entry)
  • 2. aides, aids , AIDS

Other definitions for AID (2 of 3)

AID1
[ eyd ]

nounU.S. Government.
  1. the division of the United States International Development Cooperation Agency that coordinates the various foreign aid programs with U.S. foreign policy: established in 1961.

Origin of AID

2
A(gency for) I(nternational) D(evelopment)

Other definitions for AID (3 of 3)

AID2

abbreviation
  1. American Institute of Decorators.

  2. American Institute of Interior Designers.

  1. British. artificial insemination donor.: Also A.I.D.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use aid in a sentence

  • He takes his own confusion due to loss of artificial aids for an objective situation.

  • You must trust yourself to swim from one 'island' to another, without artificial aids.

    Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography | George William Erskine Russell
  • It would seem that a well-ordered discourse should supply its own logical cues so that such artificial aids would be unnecessary.

    Psychology | Robert S. Woodworth
  • Then that area on the scale where man could exist without artificial aids would still be less than a hair's breadth.

    Eight Keys to Eden | Mark Irvin Clifton
  • Brief information as to all artificial aids to navigation is shown on the charts.

    Nautical Charts | G. R. Putnam

British Dictionary definitions for aid (1 of 3)

aid

/ (eɪd) /


verb
  1. to give support to (someone to do something); help or assist

  2. (tr) to assist financially

noun
  1. assistance; help; support

  2. a person, device, etc, that helps or assists: a teaching aid

  1. Also: artificial aid mountaineering any of various devices such as piton or nut when used as a direct help in the ascent

  2. (in medieval Europe; in England after 1066) a feudal payment made to the king or any lord by his vassals, usually on certain occasions such as the marriage of a daughter or the knighting of an eldest son

  3. in aid of British informal in support of; for the purpose of

Origin of aid

1
C15: via Old French aidier from Latin adjūtāre to help, from juvāre to help

Derived forms of aid

  • aider, noun

British Dictionary definitions for Aid (2 of 3)

Aid

n combining form
  1. denoting a charitable organization or function that raises money for a cause: Band Aid; Ferryaid

British Dictionary definitions for AID (3 of 3)

AID

abbreviation for
  1. acute infectious disease

  2. artificial insemination (by) donor: former name for Donor Insemination (DI)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012