# good Samaritan

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/good-samaritan
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A person who helps someone in distress out of their own good nature.

## 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.

## 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.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.