assessment

noun as·sess·ment \ ə-ˈses-mənt , a- \

Updated on: 10 May 2018

Definition of assessment

1 : the action or an instance of making a judgment about something : the act of assessing something : appraisal

assessment of damages

an assessment of the president's achievements

2 : the amount assessed : an amount that a person is officially required to pay especially as a tax

the tax assessment on property

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Examples of assessment in a Sentence

It's a difficult problem that requires careful assessment.
I don't agree with his assessment of the problem.
The owners claimed the tax assessment on their house was too high.

Recent Examples of assessment from the Web

It's believed that the move was made as merely a precaution with the match with Liverpool coming up in three weeks, and that assessment might well ring true given Real had little more than pride to play for in Catalonia.

— SI.com, "Report Reveals Latest News on Cristiano Ronaldo Injury After Limping Off During Draw With Barça," 6 May 2018
Richard Richoux and Rafael Salcedo disagreed with that assessment during the sanity hearing, Fleming said.

— michelle hunter, NOLA.com, "JPSO deputy, retirement home resident put on 'Boogie Shoes'," 4 May 2018
That assessment echoed comments Mnuchin made on Monday.

— Bloomberg.com, "Bloomberg," 2 May 2018
DePodesta needlessly put a target on his back with that assessment of the QB prospects available to the Browns.

— bud shaw, cleveland.com, "The Browns show lots of confidence in Baker Mayfield and the process that led them to him -- Bud Shaw's Spinoffs," 1 May 2018
And the other signatories to the JCPOA, with the notable exception of America, agree with that assessment.

— oren liebermann, CNN, "What did Netanyahu reveal about Iran's nuclear program? Nothing new, experts say," 1 May 2018
Department of Corrections officials have agreed with that assessment.

— patrick marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Prison workers were promoted after teen inmate suicide attempt that is costing nearly $19 million," 27 Apr. 2018
The head of city homelessness programs — who has consistently preferred steady street counseling as a tool over dismantling camps en masse — agreed with that assessment.

— kevin fagan, San Francisco Chronicle, "SF mayor vows that clearing homeless tents from the Mission just a start," 25 Apr. 2018
Its ally, Russia, at first agreed with that assessment, but more recently has said the attack did take place, casting blame on Syrian rebels or agents of a foreign power hostile to Russia.

— julian e. barnes, WSJ, "Inspectors Enter Syrian Town of Douma to Investigate Suspected Chemical Attack," 21 Apr. 2018

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

History of assessment

Assessment has two meanings (“an amount that a person is officially required to pay” and “the act of making a judgment about something”) so distinct that one might rightfully wonder if they come from different sources. They do not.

Both are derived from related senses of assess, a verb that for over 500 years has meant “to determine the rate or amount of (a tax).” The monetary sense of assessment is tied to this oldest use of assess. By the 19th century, the verb’s object shifted slightly to produce a new meaning, “to make an official valuation of (property) for the purposes of taxation.” It was but a short step from here to the broadened sense “to make a judgment about” that is the basis of assessment “the act of making a judgment.”