good Samaritan

Also found in: Thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Related to good Samaritan: Good Samaritan law

Good Samaritan

A compassionate person who unselfishly helps others, especially strangers.

[After the Samaritan passerby in the New Testament parable who was the only person to aid a man who had been beaten and robbed (Luke 10:30-37).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Good Samaritan

1. (Bible) New Testament a figure in one of Christ's parables (Luke 10:30–37) who is an example of compassion towards those in distress

2. a kindly person who helps another in difficulty or distress

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

good′

(or Good′) Samar′itan,

a person who voluntarily gives help to those in distress or need. Luke 10:30–37.

[1840–50]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

good Samaritan - a person who voluntarily offers help or sympathy in times of trouble

benefactor, helper - a person who helps people or institutions (especially with financial help)

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

She is a good Samaritan by an irresistible vocation.

View in context

He sat writing in the room with the deadly statistical clock, proving something no doubt - probably, in the main, that the Good Samaritan was a Bad Economist.

View in context

It is a remarkable Christian improvement, to have made a pursuing Fury of the Good Samaritan; but it was so in this case, and it is a type of many, many, many.

View in context

"Thank you very much," he said, "for playing the Good Samaritan."

View in context

The poor man blest him for it, and he blest the poor man, and was so like the Good Samaritan that he gave him money to refresh both himself and his horse, and told him, that if he loved himself, he should be merciful to his beast.

View in context

'The die is the same as the porochial seal--the Good Samaritan healing the sick and bruised man.

View in context

It must also be stated that if a charitable soul of a bourgeois or bourgeoise , in the rabble, had attempted to carry a glass of water to that wretched creature in torment, there reigned around the infamous steps of the pillory such a prejudice of shame and ignominy, that it would have sufficed to repulse the good Samaritan.

View in context

I'm his good Samaritan, and you'll have to be the same to him if you buy him.--Now I'll give you your spiel.

View in context

I have simply done my best to play the Good Samaritan. Your clothes and papers are all untouched.

View in context

We climbed a high hill to visit the city of Samaria, where the woman may have hailed from who conversed with Christ at Jacob's Well, and from whence, no doubt, came also the celebrated Good Samaritan. Herod the Great is said to have made a magnificent city of this place, and a great number of coarse limestone columns, twenty feet high and two feet through, that are almost guiltless of architectural grace of shape and ornament, are pointed out by many authors as evidence of the fact.

View in context

He was a barrister by profession; a ladies' man by temperament; and a good Samaritan by choice.

View in context

"If you should be inclined," the letter went on, "to play the good Samaritan, dear Elizabeth, I am positive you would find Minora a bright, intelligent companion--"