Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
aid (verb)transitive verb
intransitive verb
to provide with what is useful or necessary in achieving an end to give assistance
1.
a subsidy granted to the king by the English parliament until the 18th century for an extraordinary purpose
2.
a) the act of helping
b) help given - assistance providing aid and comfort , specifically tangible means of assistance (as money or supplies)
3.
a) an assisting person or group - compare aide
b) something by which assistance is given an assisting device - an aid to understanding a visual aid , especially - hearing aid
4.
a tribute paid by a vassal to his lord
1.
Agency for International Development
2.
artificial insemination by donor
Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus
aid (noun)1.
a person who helps a more skilled person
SYNONIMS:
adjunct, adjutant, aid, aide, apprentice, assistant, coadjutor, deputy, helpmate, helpmeet, lieutenant, mate, sidekickRELATED WORDS:
attendant, handmaiden ( handmaid), maid, maidservant, scullion, servant; auxiliary, legman, subordinate, underling; employee ( employe), hand, help, hireling, laborer, swamper, worker; gal Friday, girl Friday; man Friday, right hand; aide-de-camp2.
a thing that helps
SYNONIMS:
advantage, aid, asset, benefit, boonRELATED WORDS:
hand, lift, pick-me-up; support, sustenance; blessing, godsend, windfall; recourse, refuge, resort, resourceNEAR ANTONYMS:
constraint, inhibitor, liability, obstacle, obstruction, restraint, stranglehold3.
an act or instance of helping
SYNONIMS:
abetment, aid, assist, assistance, backing, boost, hand, helping hand, leg up, lift, supportRELATED WORDS:
advancement, encouragement, facilitation, forwarding, furtherance, furthering, nurturance; benefaction, patronage, promotion, sponsorship; advice, care, counsel, guidance, mentoring; attendance, attention, hand-holding, service; beneficence, charity, favor, kindness, philanthropy; assuagement, palliation, relief, succorNEAR ANTONYMS:
constraint, frustration, inhibition, interference, obstruction, repression, restraint; deterrence, discouragementto provide (someone) with what is useful or necessary to achieve an end
SYNONIMS:
abet, aid, assist, back, backstop, prop (up), supportRELATED WORDS:
advance, ease, facilitate, forward, foster, further, launch; champion, endorse ( indorse), patronize, promote, sponsor; attend, care (for), comfort, minister (to), succor; sustain; bolster, boost, buttress, reinforce ( reenforce); advise, counsel, guide, mentor, nurture; bail out, deliver, rescue, save; embolden, encourage, hearten; benefit, favor, oblige, profit, serveNEAR ANTONYMS:
balk, bar, block, constrain, hamper, handicap, hold back, impede, inhibit, obstruct, restrain, strangle; baffle, foil, frustrate, inconvenience, interfere, oppose, sabotage, thwart; desert, disappoint, fail, let down; discourage, dishearten; repress, retard, stifle, straiten, stunt; damage, harm, hurt, injure