help

A close synonym of the verb sense of help is assist. Assist can mean the same thing as help, but it can imply that the assistance is only part of the help being offered. The informal term lend a hand (in which a hand means assistance) often means the same thing.

Some close synonyms for help can be used as a noun or as a verb: aid and support.

Each can have different shades of meaning. Aid is more formal, and it’s often used in the context of serious situations. Support can be used in different ways. It often emphasizes the fact that the person being helped is not alone.

Other synonyms for help are more specific. Guide means to help someone with a task or activity as they do it by providing guidance along the way—which is a bit more hands-on than advising (giving advice).

Relief is often used in the context of helping those who are desperately in need, as in Multiple agencies are working to provide relief to those affected by the hurricane.

Many of the noun synonyms of help can be used with the word provide to create synonyms of the verb sense: provide assistance, provide aid, provide support (and of course provide help).

Sometimes, help means the same thing as facilitate, further, promote, or foster, as This legislation will help economic growth.

Help is a very common word. Much less common terms that can mean the same thing are succor and abet.

Succor can be used as a noun or a verb—and it can also refer to a person who provides help. It can sound a bit literary or formal—it’s probably most commonly encountered in older literature.

Abet is most commonly used in the context of assisting someone with a crime—particularly in the phrase aid and abet.

What is another word for helping?

Helping describes giving aid, help, and support. Synonyms for this include assisting, guiding, and advising.

Assisting suggests that you’re giving consistent or formalised support. Essentially, it implies that it’s part of your role to help out, where helping suggests that the help was optional. Guiding suggests that you’re more experienced than the person you’re helping, and you’re helping them to gain experience or improve. Advising also suggests that you know more than the person you’re helping, but in this case you’re offering advice when it’s needed. You might not have a hands-on role, but your advice is important.

What is another word for helpful?

If someone is helpful, you might describe them instead as supportive, friendly, useful, valuable or accommodating. Useful and valuable are most often used in workplaces to describe people, and you wouldn’t usually describe your friend that way. Supportive, friendly, and accommodating can be used in a wider variety of situations. Accommodating suggests that someone is understanding about your needs or requests, and will change things around to make you comfortable.

If something is helpful—say advice, or a certain tool—you might describe it as beneficial or invaluable. Beneficial means that it offers a benefit, and invaluable means that it’s beyond valuable—that it’s important or necessary.

What is another word for helper?

A helper is an assistant. They might be an apprentice if they’re helping you in order to learn a trade or profession. If you’re a supervillain, they might be a henchman. They might be your subordinate, your deputy, or your right-hand-man.

What can you say instead of helping others?

There’s no direct synonym for the phrase helping others, but depending on the circumstances, you could use giving advice, having a support role or offering guidance. Have a think about what kind of help you’re offering, and once you’ve found a more specific word you can build your own phrase around that!

What is another word for helpfulness?

Instead of helpfulness, you can use usefulness, assistance, or help.