Meanings
- uncountablepublic policylawPayment made to disadvantaged persons by government in order to alleviate the burdens of poverty, unemployment, disability, old age, etc.
She also signed up for public assistance, and gets $356 a month and $388 in food stamps.
2012 February 2, John Otis, “The Neediest Cases: Long After Southern Storm, Still Looking for New Home”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Oct 20122 more examples
Suddenly thrown on the world, with a wife and four children, with but the wages of a week for his and their support, they had travelled thus far on the way to a neighboring parish, where he said he had a right to, and must seek, public assistance.
1820, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 15, in PrecautionBush has made public assistance—specifically welfare—a constant target of his campaign rhetoric.
1992 May 25, Thomas Sancton et al., “How to Get America Off the Dole”, in Time - uncountableGovernment subsidy.
1 more example
The Tobacco Fund is financed by a deduction from the premiums granted to tobacco producers and it is therefore justified to propose that all public assistance for measures financed under the Fund be provided from the Community own resources in the Fund. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:331:0016:0022:EN:PDF
Synonyms & antonyms
noungovernmental provision of economic assistance to persons in need
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Finnish toimeentulotuki, julkinen tuki
- toimeentulotukipublic money paid to the needy
- julkinen tukisubsidy
Cite this entry
public assistance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/public%20assistance
“public assistance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/public%20assistance. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “public assistance,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/public%20assistance.
Source: public assistance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.