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Synonyms

aid

1 American  
[eyd] / eɪd /

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.

    Synonyms:
    advance, foster, back, abet
    Antonyms:
    frustrate, hinder

verb (used without object)

  1. to give help or assistance.

noun

  1. help or support; assistance.

    Synonyms:
    grant, subsidy, relief, succor

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

  3. Manège. aids,

    1. 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.

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

  4. aide-de-camp.

  5. foreign aid.

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

  7. 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.

AID 2 American  
[eyd] / eɪd /

noun

U.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.

AID 3 American  

abbreviation

  1. American Institute of Decorators.

  2. American Institute of Interior Designers.

  3. British. artificial insemination donor. Also A.I.D.

aid 1 British  
/ eɪd /

verb

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

  2. (tr) to assist financially

"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

noun

  1. assistance; help; support

  2. a person, device, etc, that helps or assists

    a teaching aid

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

  4. (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

  5. informal in support of; for the purpose of

"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
AID 2 British  

abbreviation

  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
Aid 3 British  

combining form

  1. denoting a charitable organization or function that raises money for a cause

    Band Aid

    Ferryaid
"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

Commonly Confused

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.

Related Words

See help.

Other Word Forms

  • aider noun
  • aidful adjective
  • aidless adjective
  • unaided adjective
  • unaidedly adverb
  • unaiding adjective

Etymology

Origin of aid1

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”; adjuvant ( def. )

Origin of AID2

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

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.

He said he’d come to their aid, and now he has.

From The Wall Street Journal

Four months into a fragile ceasefire in war-torn Gaza, most of the more than two million population relies on aid – for food, medical care and water.

From BBC

Two international aid groups, Save the Children and International Rescue Committee, suspended their work in Houthi-controlled areas last year.

From BBC

Those consequences are already visible in the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis which prompted Mexico to send tonnes of emergency aid to Cuba, including powdered milk and personal hygiene items.

From BBC

Americans don’t like fraud—they want action to clean it up—though they get antsy at the thought of denied aid.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.