assess

as·sess

verb \ə-ˈses, a-\

Definition of ASSESS

transitive verb

1

: to determine the rate or amount of (as a tax)

2

a : to impose (as a tax) according to an established rate b : to subject to a tax, charge, or levy

3

: to make an official valuation of (property) for the purposes of taxation

4

: to determine the importance, size, or value of <assess a problem>

5

: to charge (a player or team) with a foul or penalty

— as·sess·able \-ˈse-sə-bəl\ adjective

Examples of ASSESS

1. After the hurricane, officials assessed the town's need for aid.
2. We need to assess whether or not the system is working.
3. Damage to the boat was assessed at $5,000.
4. The company was assessed $12 million in fines for polluting the river.
5. Cornell graduate student James Tanner spent three years in the early 1940s slogging southern swamps and bayous to assess where and how the species could be saved. By his reckoning, no more than twenty-four ivory-bills remained in the entire Southeast. —John Terborgh, New York Review of Books, 26 Apr. 2007
6. When the training staff determined that Everett had no mobility below his neck, Cappuccino was waved onto the field. He performed a quick battery of tests to assess the severity of the injury, squeezing various parts of Everett's body and asking him to respond. —Tim Layden, Sports Illustrated, 17 Dec. 2007
7. Tetlock found that his experts used a double standard: they were much tougher in assessing the validity of information that undercut their theory than they were in crediting information that supported it. —Louis Menand, New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2005
8. Briefly, the way it works is this. Every time a hog is sold, the seller is assessed 40 cents per $100 of sale value to promote the consumption of pork. —Warren R. Ross, UU World, Fall 2005

Origin of ASSESS

Middle English, probably from Medieval Latin assessus, past participle of assidēre, from Latin, to sit beside, assist in the office of a judge — more at assize

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to ASSESS

Synonyms: impose, charge, exact, fine, lay, levy, put

Antonyms: remit

Related Words: dock, excise, mulct, penalize, tax; extort, shake down, wrest, wring; bleed, fleece, gouge, milk, skin, squeeze; coerce, compel, force; inflict, wreak; set; reapply, reimpose, relay

Near Antonyms: abate, diminish, lessen; forgive, release; condone, disregard, excuse, gloss (over), gloze (over), ignore, pardon

see all synonyms and antonyms

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See Synonym Discussion at estimate

Other Economics Terms

actuary, compound interest, globalization, indemnity, portfolio, rentier, stagflation, usurer

Rhymes with ASSESS

abscess, access, address, aggress, bench-press, caress, clothespress, coatdress, cold-press, compress, confess, cross-dress, CS, depress, de-stress, digress, distress, drill press, egress, excess, express, finesse, fluoresce, French press, full-dress, handpress, headdress, housedress, idlesse, impress, ingress, Meknes, much less, nightdress, noblesse, no less, obsess, oppress, outguess, possess, precess, prestress, princess, process, profess, progress, recess, redress, regress, re-press, repress, shirtdress, side-dress, SS, success, sundress, suppress, tendresse, top-dress, transgress, undress, unless, web press, winepress, word stress