appoint

verb

ap·​point ə-ˈpȯint 

appointed; appointing; appoints

transitive verb

1

a

: to fix or set officially

appoint a trial date

b

: to name officially

will appoint her director of the program

c

archaic : arrange

d

law : to determine the disposition of (an estate) to someone by virtue of a power of appointment

2

: to provide with complete and usually appropriate or elegant furnishings or equipment

… appointed the rooms with a curated selection of art and furniture …

—Chron.com

a beautifully appointed room

intransitive verb

: to exercise a power of appointment

Synonyms

• designate
• fix
• name
• set

Choose the Right Synonym for appoint

furnish, equip, outfit, appoint, accoutre mean to supply one with what is needed.

furnish implies the provision of any or all essentials for performing a function.

a sparsely furnished apartment

equip suggests the provision of something making for efficiency in action or use.

a fully equipped kitchen

outfit implies provision of a complete list or set of articles as for a journey, an expedition, or a special occupation.

outfitted the family for a ski trip

appoint implies provision of complete and usually elegant or elaborate equipment or furnishings.

a lavishly appointed apartment

accoutre suggests the supplying of personal dress or equipment for a special activity.

fully accoutred members of a polar expedition

Examples of appoint in a Sentence

She was appointed professor of chemistry at the university.

After his parents died, the boy's uncle was appointed as his guardian.

Every year, the group appoints three new members.

a committee appointed by Congress

the company's newly appointed assistant director

Recent Examples on the Web

Altman was replaced by CTO Mira Murati, who was appointed interim CEO. —Will Knight, WIRED, 21 Nov. 2023

Bayer Rosmarin was appointed CEO in April 2020 and the Nov. 8 outage was the second national scandal under her leadership. —Lionel Lim, Fortune, 20 Nov. 2023

In 2021, after Padilla was appointed, Newsom signed a bill into law that requires a primary and general election to fill vacant Senate seats. —Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 19 Nov. 2023

Classified documents: The special counsel appointed to investigate Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents has interviewed the president’s son Hunter Biden. —Elizabeth Both, NBC News, 17 Nov. 2023

Two years later, he was named deputy director of the Office of Operations, and in 1983 he was appointed the office’s director, reporting directly to Deputy Mayor Nathan Leventhal. —Sam Roberts, New York Times, 17 Nov. 2023

Egypt’s schoolchildren in the 1960s were taught a song in praise of the man who’d appointed himself their president in 1954, at age 36—uncommonly young for a nonroyal to lead an Arab nation. —Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 15 Nov. 2023

In a news release on Tuesday, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced that Emma Hayes has been appointed the USWNT's head coach. —Ingrid Vasquez, Peoplemag, 15 Nov. 2023

The council couldn’t appoint a replacement for Montgomery Steppe because there is more than one year remaining in her council term, which began last December and is scheduled to run through December 2026. —David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Nov. 2023

See More

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French appointer, from a- (from Latin ad-) + point point

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1c

Kids Definition

appoint

verb

ap·​point ə-ˈpȯint 

1

: to decide on usually from a position of authority

the teacher appointed a time for our meeting

2

: to choose for some job or offices

I was appointed to wash the dishes

the school board appointed three new teachers

the president appoints a cabinet

Legal Definition

appoint

transitive verb

ap·​point ə-ˈpȯint 

1

: to name officially to a position

appointed to the agency's top post

appointed conservator of the estate

2

: to determine the distribution of (property) by exercising the authority granted by a power of appointment

a general power to appoint the corpus of a trust

—W. M. McGovern, Jr. et al.

intransitive verb

: to exercise a power of appointment see also power of appointment

appointive

ə-ˈpȯin-tiv 

adjective

appointment noun