Help vs Use - What's the difference?
help | use |
(uncountable) Action given to provide assistance; aid.
(usually, uncountable) Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.
Documentation provided with computer software, etc. and accessed using the computer.
(usually, uncountable) One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise.
(uncountable, euphemistic) Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training.
To provide assistance to (someone or something).
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To contribute in some way to.
To provide assistance.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=19 * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can .
The act of using.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=
, volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Usefulness, benefit.
* Milton
* Alexander Pope
A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
, volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
(obsolete, rare) Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
* 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,
* Jeremy Taylor
(archaic) Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
* Spenser
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
* Shakespeare
(religion) The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese.
* Book of Common Prayer
(forging) A slab of iron welded to the side of a forging, such as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.
(archaic) To accustom; to habituate.
:
*(John Milton) (1608–1674)
*:Thou with thy compeers, / Used to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels.
To employ; to apply; to utilize.
:
:
*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= To exhaust the supply of; to consume by employing
:
To exploit.
:
*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= (dated) To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
:
*(John Milton) (1608–1674)
*:How wouldst thou use me now?
*(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)
*:Cato has used me ill.
To habitually do; to be wont to do.
:
*Bible, 1 (w) iv.9
*:Use hospitality one to another.
*, I.48:
*:Peter Pol'', doctor in divinitie used to sit upon his mule, who as ''Monstrelet'' reporteth, was wont to ride up and downe the streets of ''Paris , ever sitting sideling, as women use .
* 1693 , Sir Norman Knatchbull, Annotations upon some difficult texts in all the books of the New Testament
(past tense with infinitive) To habitually do. See used to.
:
As verbs the difference between help and use
is that help is to provide assistance to (someone or something) while use is .As a noun help
is (uncountable) action given to provide assistance; aid.help
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl), from (etyl) .Noun
(en-noun)- I need some help with my homework.
- He was a great help to me when I was moving house.
- I've printed out a list of math helps .
- I can't find anything in the help about rotating an image.
- The help is coming round this morning to clean.
- Most of the hired help is seasonal, for the harvest.
- 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-helpEtymology 2
From (etyl) helpen, from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) .Verb
Snakes and ladders, passage=Risk is everywhere.
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.}}
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.}}
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, seeSynonyms
* (provide assistance to) aid, assist, come to the aid of, help out * (contribute in some way to) contribute to * (provide assistance) assistDerived terms
* a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down * can't help * helper * helping * help oneself * help outuse
English
(wikipedia use)Alternative forms
* (archaic)Etymology 1
From (etyl) from Old English nytt.Noun
(en noun)Ed Pilkington
‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told, passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
- God made two great lights, great for their use / To man.
- 'Tis use alone that sanctifies expense.
How algorithms rule the world, passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.}}
- I have no further use for these textbooks.
- DON PEDRO. Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick.
- BEATRICE. Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for a single one: [...]
- Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.
- Let later age that noble use envy.
- How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world!
- O Caesar! these things are beyond all use .
- the Sarum, or Canterbury, use'''; the Hereford '''use'''; the York '''use'''; the Roman '''use ; etc.
- From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use .
Synonyms
* (act of using) employment, usage, note, nait * (usefulness) benefit, good, point, usefulness, utility, note, naitDerived terms
* disuse * fair use * hyper-use * misuse * no use * overuse * reuse * underuse * useful * useless * usement * what’s the useEtymology 2
From (etyl) ).Verb
(us)David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
Wild Plants to the Rescue, volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
Katie L. Burke
In the News, passage=Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.}}
- For in the Rites of funeration they did use to anoint the dead body, with Aromatick Spices and Oyntments, before they buried them.