help desk

noun

plural help desks

: a department or person that provides assistance and information usually for electronic or computer problems

Adding a work account is easier than it used to be, but if you're a technophobe, or if your company requires special security settings, call your help desk.

—Jeremy Caplan

—often hyphenated when used before another noun

help-desk questions

Pleas to reset forgotten passwords account for half of help-desk calls to Web sites, says RSA Security.

—Victoria Murphy Barret

Examples of help desk in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Department of Justice has cut funding for immigration legal services, shutting down a Houston court help desk. —Shafaq Patel, Axios, 28 Jan. 2025

An Increase In Help Desk Outsourcing More businesses are opting to outsource help desk and support functions over in-house staffing. —To Quang Duy, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025

Build seamless, self-service support for employees Remember when solving an IT problem was as easy as stopping by the help desk? —Tom Eggemeier, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025

This matched the compensation offered to an X user who claimed to have suffered bed bug bites on an August 2024 Turkish Airlines flight and shared photos with the airline’s help desk. —Ryan Craggs, New York Times, 1 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

help desk

noun

: a department or person that provides help or information usually for electronic or computer problems