Definition of ASCRIBE

Choose the Right Synonym for ascribe

ascribe, attribute, assign, impute, credit mean to lay something to the account of a person or thing. ascribe suggests an inferring or conjecturing of cause, quality, authorship. forged paintings formerly ascribed to masters attribute suggests less tentativeness than ascribe, less definiteness than assign. attributed to Rembrandt but possibly done by an associate assign implies ascribing with certainty or after deliberation. assigned the bones to the Cretaceous period impute suggests ascribing something that brings discredit by way of accusation or blame. tried to impute sinister motives to my actions credit implies ascribing a thing or especially an action to a person or other thing as its agent, source, or explanation. credited his teammates for his success

Examples of ascribe in a Sentence

ascribed their stunning military victory to good intelligence beforehand

Recent Examples on the Web

For the record, Messrs. Rajan, Panagariya and Subramanian do not ascribe their departures to domestic criticism. — Sadanand Dhume, WSJ, "Gita Gopinath and India’s Brain Drain," 4 Oct. 2018 Given the symbolism, and the obvious tragedy of his death, there will be those who ascribe nobility to Chau, and courage. — Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, "Death of a Missionary," 25 Nov. 2018 But that feature had been ascribed to a boundary between the dust-containing ice that dominates Mars' surface and a layer of pure water ice that is expected to exist below that. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Possible lake spotted under a polar ice cap—on Mars," 25 July 2018 Lauren Berger, one of the authors, surmises that a lower or conflicting ethnic identity—that is, the extent to which someone ascribes to one identity over another—may contribute to it. — Deanna Pai, Glamour, "Crazy Rich Asians," 14 Aug. 2018 How a death is ascribed often depends on the level of medical training of the professional filling out the death certificate, experts say. — Betsy Mckay, WSJ, "Cocaine, Meth, Opioids All Fuel Rise in Drug-Overdose Deaths," 20 Sep. 2018 Others are far more interesting, with whimsically hued animals or nicknames that ascribe traits not normally associated with a certain countries. — Matt Bonesteel, chicagotribune.com, "Red Devils, Green Falcons and Super Eagles, oh my: A guide to World Cup nicknames," 14 June 2018 TypeOneGrit has about 3,000 members on Facebook who ascribe to a program devised by Dr. Richard Bernstein, an 84-year-old physician with Type 1 diabetes. — New York Times, "How a Low-Carb Diet Might Aid People With Type 1 Diabetes," 7 May 2018 According to the practice of numerology, which ascribes certain symbols and meanings to each single-digit number, the number seven is, indeed, quite significant. — refinery29.com, "Justin Bieber's Engagement Announcement Features A Low-Key Numerology Flex," 10 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ascribe.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.