Skip to content
WORDS, MADE CLEAR.
Your everyday English companion

English dictionary

helping Meaning & Definition

/ˈhɛlpɪŋ/

What Does Helping Mean?

As a noun, helping means The act of giving aid or assistance (to). It can also mean A portion or serving, especially of food that one takes for oneself, or to which one helps oneself. As an adjective, it means helpful. As a verb, it means present participle and gerund of help.

Quick Facts About Helping

Part of speechnoun, adjective, verb
Pronunciation/ˈhɛlpɪŋ/
Synonymsassist, assistance and portion
Pluralhelpings
Comparative / superlativemore helping, most helping

Helping Definition (Noun)

  1. The act of giving aid or assistance (to).

    She finds great joy in helping people.

  2. A portion or serving, especially of food that one takes for oneself, or to which one helps oneself.

    She eagerly took a second helping of ice cream.

  3. An amount or quantity.

Helping as an Adjective

  1. helpful

Helping as a Verb

  1. present participle and gerund of help

Verb

  1. To provide assistance to (someone or something).

    He helped his grandfather cook breakfast.

  2. To assist (a person) in getting something, especially food or drink at table; used with to.

    Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge.

  3. To contribute in some way to.

    If you want to get a job, it helps to have some prior experience.

  4. To provide assistance.

    Please, help!

  5. To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can.

    Are they going to beat us? Not if I can help it!

Synonyms of Helping

Helping synonyms and antonyms →

Helping in a Sentence

She finds great joy in helping people.

She eagerly took a second helping of ice cream.

He helped his grandfather cook breakfast.

Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge.

If you want to get a job, it helps to have some prior experience.

Please, help!

Are they going to beat us? Not if I can help it!

Word Forms & Grammar

helping (countable and uncountable, plural helpings)

helping (comparative more helping, superlative most helping)

helping

Words That Rhyme With Helping

Origin of Helping

Origin 1: From Middle English helping, helpinge, helpynge, equivalent to help +‎ -ing.

Origin 2: From Middle English helpinge, helpynge, helpinde, helponde, helpand, from Old English helpende, present participle of Old English helpan (“to help”), equivalent to help +‎ -ing. Cognate with Dutch helpend, German helfend, Swedish hjälpande.

Helping: Your Questions Answered

Is helping a noun or an adjective?

Helping is mainly used as a noun, but it can also be used as an adjective and a verb.

What is another word for helping?

Words with a similar meaning to helping include assist, assistance and portion. See the full list of helping synonyms and antonyms.

What is the plural of helping?

The plural of helping is helpings.

What are the comparative and superlative forms of helping?

The comparative form is more helping and the superlative form is most helping.

More About Helping On Meaning Stash

More Words Starting With “Help”