assented; assenting; assents
: to agree to or approve of something (such as an idea or suggestion) especially after thoughtful consideration : concur
assent to a proposal
: an act of agreeing to something especially after thoughtful consideration : an act of assenting : acquiescence, agreement
She gave her assent to the proposal.
Examples of assent in a Sentence
Verb
One day I arrived at class to discuss some abolition treaties written during the early Romantic period. An African American woman, Stephanie, was introduced to me by one of my students. Stephanie asked if she could sit in on the class, and I of course assented.
—
Laura Mandell, Profession, 1997
Christopher, on his end, is supposed to have assented to and even welcomed this public confirmation of his own negligibility, not that foreign diplomats needed any.
—Tom Carson, Village Voice, 19 July 1994
Fearing that without a new batch of social measures the country would slip away from him, Roosevelt assented—sometimes rather grudgingly—to proposals that in sum make up the semi-welfare state under which we have lived this past half century.
—Irving Howe, New York Times Book Review, 28 Sept.1986
The general proposed a detailed plan and the President assented.
are we to conclude from your silence that you assent?
Noun
Cornel West of Harvard introduced Bradley as "my brother, my comrade." Then Bradley, donning drugstore reading glasses, standing motionless at the podium, took the air out of the cavernous hall with a lecture on the history of racism and the complexity of ethnic subcultures. He got nods of knowing assent, but he could have had a standing O.
—Howard Fineman, Newsweek, 19 July 1999
Appointments at top universities often required the recommendation and assent of experts from other fields; insofar as deans, provosts, and other administrators came from economics and the hard sciences, many of them recognized rational choice as something close to their own ideals of legitimate scientific research.
—Jonathan Cohn, New Republic, 25 Oct. 1999
From The Second Sex to In a Different Voice, I could read and appreciate the analysis or the argument without feeling personally very involved. I could, and did, argue for feminism because I believed in much of what feminist writers were saying about gender equality, but my assent came from my head, not my heart. I knew that as an audience for feminist writers I was a pretty tertiary concern.
—Robert J. Connors, College English, February 1996
Once filming began, sequences that had been axed for budgetary reasons were put back—with the studio's tacit assent.
—Charles Fleming, Vanity Fair, August 1995
Laura Mandell, Profession, 1997
Christopher, on his end, is supposed to have assented to and even welcomed this public confirmation of his own negligibility, not that foreign diplomats needed any.
—Tom Carson, Village Voice, 19 July 1994
Fearing that without a new batch of social measures the country would slip away from him, Roosevelt assented—sometimes rather grudgingly—to proposals that in sum make up the semi-welfare state under which we have lived this past half century.
—Irving Howe, New York Times Book Review, 28 Sept.1986
The general proposed a detailed plan and the President assented.
are we to conclude from your silence that you assent?
Noun
Cornel West of Harvard introduced Bradley as "my brother, my comrade." Then Bradley, donning drugstore reading glasses, standing motionless at the podium, took the air out of the cavernous hall with a lecture on the history of racism and the complexity of ethnic subcultures. He got nods of knowing assent, but he could have had a standing O.
—Howard Fineman, Newsweek, 19 July 1999
Appointments at top universities often required the recommendation and assent of experts from other fields; insofar as deans, provosts, and other administrators came from economics and the hard sciences, many of them recognized rational choice as something close to their own ideals of legitimate scientific research.
—Jonathan Cohn, New Republic, 25 Oct. 1999
From The Second Sex to In a Different Voice, I could read and appreciate the analysis or the argument without feeling personally very involved. I could, and did, argue for feminism because I believed in much of what feminist writers were saying about gender equality, but my assent came from my head, not my heart. I knew that as an audience for feminist writers I was a pretty tertiary concern.
—Robert J. Connors, College English, February 1996
Once filming began, sequences that had been axed for budgetary reasons were put back—with the studio's tacit assent.
—Charles Fleming, Vanity Fair, August 1995
Recent Examples on the Web
Chris Cameron, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2025
China has built Russia’s defense industrial base, helped Iran provide Russia with one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles, and assented as North Korea has sent troops to fight in Europe.
—Kurt M. Campbell, Foreign Affairs, 10 Apr. 2025
Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 8 June 2025
On the fifth day of controversy sparked by Trump’s immigration policies, the president’s decision to mobilize U.S. troops in the country’s second largest city — without the assent of the governor and local officials — moved pictures of clashes off TV and social media and into a federal courtroom.
—Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for assent
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Verb
The lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, Seth P. Waxman, a solicitor general for the Clinton administration, initially refused, but eventually assented after further criticism from Judge Reyes.
—Chris Cameron, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2025
China has built Russia’s defense industrial base, helped Iran provide Russia with one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles, and assented as North Korea has sent troops to fight in Europe.
—Kurt M. Campbell, Foreign Affairs, 10 Apr. 2025
Noun
Arbitration is a private dispute resolution forum that parties contractually assent to use in lieu of litigation.
—Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 8 June 2025
On the fifth day of controversy sparked by Trump’s immigration policies, the president’s decision to mobilize U.S. troops in the country’s second largest city — without the assent of the governor and local officials — moved pictures of clashes off TV and social media and into a federal courtroom.
—Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for assent
Cite this Entry
“Assent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assent. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
assent
1 of 2 intransitive verb
as·sent
ə-ˈsent 
: to agree to something especially freely and with understanding : give one's assent
assent
2 of 2 noun
: agreement to a matter under consideration especially based on freedom of choice and a reasonable knowledge of the matter
their mutual assent to the terms of the contract
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