Idiom
good Samaritan
Meaning
A person who helps someone in distress out of their own good nature.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“A kind stranger acted like a Good Samaritan and helped me fix my flat tire.”
“When my car broke down on the highway, a Good Samaritan stopped to help me call for a tow truck.”
“The anonymous donor who paid for the family's medical bills proved to be a true Good Samaritan in their time of desperate need.”
Examples
simple
“A kind stranger acted like a Good Samaritan and helped me fix my flat tire.”
contextual
“When my car broke down on the highway, a Good Samaritan stopped to help me call for a tow truck.”
complex
“The anonymous donor who paid for the family's medical bills proved to be a true Good Samaritan in their time of desperate need.”
Origin
The phrase comes from the parable in Luke 10:30-37. A traveller is beaten and robbed on the road to Jericho and left half dead. A priest and a Levite, both respectable insiders, see him and pass by on the far side. The one who stops, tends his wounds, and pays for his care is a Samaritan, a member of a group Jesus' audience despised. The sting of the story is that help comes from exactly the person expected to withhold it.
The original point was about who counts as a neighbour: not the person of your own tribe, but whoever acts with mercy. The Samaritan's foreignness is essential to the parable, though English usage has largely dropped it.
A good Samaritan today simply means someone who helps a stranger in distress with no obligation to. The term is neutral enough to appear in Good Samaritan laws, which shield well-meaning rescuers from liability.
Key words
Related idioms
Stories
The Parables · See all Biblical origin
The short stories Jesus told to make a point.
the prodigal son — Someone who returns, chastened and repentant, after a period of reckless or wasteful living.
the eleventh hour — The very last possible moment before a deadline or a decisive event.
separate the wheat from the chaff — To select only that which is of value.
a house built on sand — A plan or venture with no solid foundation, liable to collapse under pressure.
the widow's mite — A small gift that represents a great sacrifice for the person who gives it.
a good and faithful servant — Someone praised for loyal, diligent, and dependable service.
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