assign
verb
as·sign
| \ ə-ˈsīn
\
\
assigned;
assigning;
assigns
Definition of assign
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: to transfer (property) to another especially in trust or for the benefit of creditors
2a
: to appoint to a post or duty
assigned them to light duty assigned me two clerks
b
: to appoint as a duty or task
assigns 20 pages for homework
3
: to fix or specify in correspondence or relationship : select, designate
assign counsel to the defendant assign a value to the variable Though assigned male at birth, she appears most comfortable and in her element wearing a skirt and high-heeled sandals when riding a big-wheel or playing with a tea set.— Will Dean
4a
: to ascribe as a motive, reason, or cause especially after deliberation
b
: to consider to belong to a specified period of time
Archaeologists assign the weapon to the eleventh century.
assign
nounDefinition of assign (Entry 2 of 2)
: assignee sense 3
heirs and assigns
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Other Words from assign
Verb
assignability
\ -ˌsī-nə-ˈbi-lə-tē
\
noun
\
noun
assignable
\ -ˈsī-nə-bəl
\
adjective
\
adjective
assigner
\ ə-ˈsī-nər
\
or assignor \ ˌa-sə-ˈnȯr
, ˌa-ˌsī- , ə-ˌsī- \
noun
\
or assignor \ ˌa-sə-ˈnȯr
, ˌa-ˌsī- , ə-ˌsī- \
noun
Synonyms for assign
Synonyms: Verb
charge, commission, entrust (also intrust), task, trust
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Examples of assign in a Sentence
Verb
The teacher assigned us 50 math problems for homework! She was assigned to the embassy in India. The new teacher was assigned to the science laboratory. The plane landed at its assigned gate.
Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
Yet some of these anxieties quelled after Grammer was assigned to a new pregnancy wing at Logan, which is about three hours southwest of Chicago. — Angie Leventis Lourgos, chicagotribune.com, "Pregnant behind bars: A downstate prison opens a special wing for mothers-to-be and postpartum inmates," 2 Sep. 2019 Because the study did not randomly assign diabetic patients to surgery or the control group, but relied on a matched set of controls for comparison, the next step in confirming the results would be to conduct a randomized control trial. — Alice Park, Time, "Weight-Loss Surgery Dramatically Lowers the Risk of Early Death, a New Study Finds," 2 Sep. 2019 His next court appearance is a Sept. 18 status conference before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, the trial judge assigned to the case. — Bay City News, The Mercury News, "Former Bay Area teachers’ union treasurer accused of stealing over $31,000 from union," 30 Aug. 2019 The recall letter said Auger had 10 days to surrender her plate with the option to chose another vanity plate at no extra cost or have one assigned to her. — Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN, "A mom with a license plate that reads 'PB4WEGO' wins a battle with the state to keep it," 29 Aug. 2019 For the most part those are put on by recruiting services that assign stars to high school players, which is supposed to predict success at the college level. — Mick Mccabe, Detroit Free Press, "Mick McCabe: After 50 years covering preps, parents getting more in way," 25 Aug. 2019 Last week, the attorney general reassigned the Manhattan facility's warden, while two staffers assigned to Epstein's unit were placed on leave. — Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY, "Justice Department: Psychologist removed Jeffrey Epstein from suicide watch," 23 Aug. 2019 The next decade brought a move near the congregation Richard was assigned pastor. — Mary Wakeford, azcentral, "Couple finds the perfect Victorian home in Peoria. Take a look," 22 Aug. 2019 Episode 2: Lucky Rabbit's Foot Keychain Chloe gave the special keychain to Zach after being assigned to him as his official cheerleader for Spring Workout. — Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, "What Every Doodle in the "13 Reasons Why" Season 3 Opening Credits Mean," 22 Aug. 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
The Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy’s 2018 book on Chernobyl reconstructs the sequence of events and assigns blame. — Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, "What HBO’s “Chernobyl” Got Right, and What It Got Terribly Wrong," 4 June 2019 IBT Media and its affiliates, successors, assigns, employees, agents, directors, officers and shareholders do not undertake or assume any duty to monitor our site for inappropriate or unlawful content. — Newsweek, "Terms of Service," 14 Mar. 2018 Schools that are oversubscribed assign seats by lottery. — Kate Taylor, New York Times, "City Announces Plan to Diversify Lower Manhattan Schools," 26 Oct. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'assign.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for assign
assign
verb
English Language Learners Definition of assign
: to give someone a particular job or duty : to require someone to do a particular task
: to send (someone) to a particular group or place as part of a job
: to give out something : to provide someone with something
See the full definition for assign in the English Language Learners Dictionary