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Help vs Function - What's the difference?

help | function | Related terms |

Help is a related term of function.


In lang=en terms the difference between help and function

is that help is to avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself) usually used in nonassertive contexts with can while function is to carry on a function; to be in action.

As nouns the difference between help and function

is that help is (uncountable) action given to provide assistance; aid while function is what something does or is used for.

As verbs the difference between help and function

is that help is to provide assistance to (someone or something) while function is to have a function.

help

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (uncountable) Action given to provide assistance; aid.
    • I need some help with my homework.
  • (usually, uncountable) Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.
    • He was a great help to me when I was moving house.
    I've printed out a list of math helps .
  • Documentation provided with computer software, etc. and accessed using the computer.
    • I can't find anything in the help about rotating an image.
  • (usually, uncountable) One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise.
    • The help is coming round this morning to clean.
    Most of the hired help is seasonal, for the harvest.
  • (uncountable, euphemistic) Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training.
    • His suicide attempts were a cry for help .
    He really needs help in handling customer complaints.
    ''"He's a real road-rager." / "Yup, he really needs help , maybe anger management."
    Usage notes
    The sense "people employed to help in the maintenance of a house" is usually an uncountable mass noun. A countable form - "a hired help''", "''two hired helps " - is attested, but now less common.
    Quotations
    (English Citations of "help")
    Synonyms
    * (action given to provide assistance) aid, assistance * (person or persons who provide assistance) * (person employed to help in the maintenance of a house)
    Derived terms
    * cry for help * help desk * helpful * helpless * helpline * helply * helpmate * helpmeet * helpsome * home help * self-help

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) helpen, from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To provide assistance to (someone or something).
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Snakes and ladders , passage=Risk is everywhere.
  • To contribute in some way to.
  • To provide assistance.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=19 citation , passage=As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help , and he stripped off his tunic at once.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}
  • To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can .
    • Usage notes
    * Use 3 is often used in the imperative mood as a call for assistance. * In uses 1, 2 and 3, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . It can also take the bare infinitive with no change in meaning. * In use 4, can't help is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) or, with but, the bare infinitive. * For more information, see
    Synonyms
    * (provide assistance to) aid, assist, come to the aid of, help out * (contribute in some way to) contribute to * (provide assistance) assist
    Derived terms
    * a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down * can't help * helper * helping * help oneself * help out

    Statistics

    * English control verbs English phrasebook 1000 English basic words ----

    function

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • What something does or is used for.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katrina G. Claw
    • , title= Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions , which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.}}
  • A professional or official position.
  • (senseid)An official or social occasion.
  • A relation where one thing is dependent on another for its existence, value, or significance.
  • (mathematics) A relation in which each element of the domain is associated with exactly one element of the codomain.
  • (computing) A routine that receives zero or more arguments and may return a result.
  • (biology) The physiological activity of an organ or body part.
  • (chemistry) The characteristic behavior of a chemical compound.
  • (anthropology) The role of a social practice in the continued existence of the group.

    • Synonyms

    * (what something does or is used for) aim, intention, purpose, role, use * (professional or official position) occupation, office, part, role * (official or social occasion) affair, occasion, social occasion, social function * many-to-one map, many-to-one mapping, mathematical function, operation, transformation * procedure, routine, subprogram, subroutine

    Hypernyms

    * (mathematics) relation

    Related terms

    * (l) * (l)

    Derived terms

    * absolutely continuous function * acidity function * adaptive-control function * additive function * additive set function * adjoint wave function * aggregate function * Airy function * Airy stress function * algebraic function * almost-periodic function * alternating function * analytic function * analytical function generator * anatomy of function * antihyperbolic function * antisymmetric wave function * antisymmetrized wave function * antitrigonometric function * arc-hyperbolic function * autocorrelation function * Baire function * bei function * ber function * Bessel function * beta function * bifunctional * biharmonic function * Bloch function * Boolean function * Borel measurable function * bounded function * boxcar function * Brillouin function * built-in function * Cantor function * characteristic function * circular function * cofunction * comparable function * complementary function * complete class of decision function * composite function * compressadensity function * computable function * concave function * confluent hypergeometric function * conjugate convex function * connect function * constant function * constraint function * contiguous function * continuous function * convex function * cosine function * cost function * countably additive set function * countably subadditive set function * critical function * cross-correlation function * cyclosymmetric function * cylinder function * decreasing function * delta function * density function * describing function * differentiable function * difunctional * digamma function * diode function generator * Dirac wave function * discriminant function * disfunction * dissipation function * driving-point function * dysfunction * effectively computable function * eigenfunction * eigenfunction expansion * Einstein partition function * electron wave function * electronic work function * elementary function * elementary symmetric function * elliptic function * Emden function * entire function * equivalent propositional function * error function * essentially bounded function * Euler's phi function * even function * excitation function * executive ego function * explicit function * exponential density function * exponential function * exponential generating function * feedback transfer function * Fermi-Dirac distribution function * form function * forward transfer function * Fowler function * frontogenetic function * function code * function failure safety * function generator * function key * function multiplier * function object * function space * function switch * function table * function unit * function-evaluation routine * functional * functionalism * functionality * gamma function * general-purpose function generator * generalized transmission function * generating function * Green's function * Hamiltonian function * Hammett acidity function * Hankel function * harmonic function * Heaviside unit function * hei function * her function * Hildebrand function * homogeneous function * Hugoniot function * hybrid wave function * hyperbolic function * hypergeometric function * identity function * implicit function * implicit function theorem * impulse function * incidence function * incomplete beta function * incomplete gamma function * increasing function * independent function * influence function * information function of a partition * initial mass function * inner function * integrable function * integral function * invariant function * inverse function * inverse function theorem * inverse hyperbolic function * inverse trigonometric function * inverting function * J function * Jacobian elliptic function * jump function * kei function * ker function * Koebe function * Lagrange stream function * Lagrangian function * * * Langevin function * left-continuous function * Legendre function * Leverett function * line function * linear discriminant function * linear function * Liouville function * locally integrable function * logarithmic trigonometric function * logarithmically convex function * loop transfer function * loss function * lower semicontinuous function * luminosity function * Lyapunov function * malfunction * malfunction routine * Massieu function * mathematical function program * Mathieu function * Maxwell's stress function * measurable function * membership function * meromorphic function * microspec function * minimal brain dysfunction syndrome * Minkowski distance function * * modified Bessel function * modified Hankel function * moment generating function * momentum wave function * monofunctional compound * monogenic analytic function * monotone function * monotone nondecreasing function * monotone nonincreasing function * monotonic increasing function * Morera's stress function * multifunction array radar * multilinear function * multiplicative number-theoretic function * natural function * Neumann function * nonfunctional packages software * normal density function * normalized function * normalized support function * NOT function * nuclear response function * number-theoretic function * objective function * odd function * optimizing control function * orthogonal function * orthonormal function * parabolic cylinder function * partial function * partial recursive function * particle distribution function * partition function * Patterson function * penalty function * periodic function * phase function * piecewise-continuous function * Planck function * point characteristic function * point function * Poisson density function * polynomial function * positive linear functional * positive real function * power function * predefined function * principal function * probability density function * probability mass function * programmed function key * proper rational function * propositional function * psi function * pulsed transfer function * quadratic function * Rademacher function * radial distribution function * radicofunctional name * random function * rational function * Rayleigh's dissipation function * real-valued function * recursive function * regular function * regulatory control function * restricted function * Riccati-Bessel function * Riemann function * Riemann P function * Riemann zeta function * sample function * scalar function * scattering function * * self-dual switching function * self-organizing function * sensitivity function * separated-function synchrotron * set function * sharpness function technique * shear-viscosity function * sigma function * simple function * simply periodic function * single-valued function * sinusoidal function * skewed density function * Smarandache function * source function * special function * spectral function * spherical Bessel function * staff function * step function * step-function generator * Stokes stream function * stress function * subadditive function * subadditive set function * subfunction * subfunctional * subharmonic function * subsine function * summable function * superadditive function * superharmonic function * support function * switch function * switching function * symmetric function * tapped-potentiometer function generator * test function * tetrafunctional molecule * thermionic work function * thermodynamic function of state * theta function * tool-function controller * torsion function * transcendental function * transfer function * transition function * transmission function * trigamma function * trigonometric cofunction * trigonometric function * truth function * Turing computable function * universal transmission function * universal wavelength function * upper semicontinuous function * user-defined function * variable diode function generator * vector function * viscous dissipation function * wave function * Wannier function * Weierstrass function * Weierstrassian elliptic function * weight function * work function

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to have a function
  • to carry on a function; to be in action

    • Synonyms

    * (to have a function) officiate, serve * (to carry on a function) go, operate, run, work

    Antonyms

    * (to carry on a function) malfunction

    Related terms

    * functional * dysfunction, dysfunctional