assign
verb
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Definition of assign
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : to transfer (property) to another especially in trust or for the benefit of creditors
2a : to appoint to a post or duty assigned them to light duty assigned me two clerks
b : to appoint as a duty or task assigns 20 pages for homework
3 : to fix or specify in correspondence or relationship : select, designate assign counsel to the defendant assign a value to the variable Though assigned male at birth, she appears most comfortable and in her element wearing a skirt and high-heeled sandals when riding a big-wheel or playing with a tea set.— Will Dean
4a : to ascribe as a motive, reason, or cause especially after deliberation
b : to consider to belong to a specified period of time Archaeologists assign the weapon to the eleventh century.
assign
nounDefinition of assign (Entry 2 of 2)
: assignee sense 3 heirs and assigns
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Other Words from assign
Verb
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noun
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adjective
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or assignor \ˌa-sə-ˈnȯr,
ˌa-ˌsī-,
ə-ˌsī-
\
noun
Synonyms for assign
Synonyms: Verb
charge, commission, entrust (also intrust), task, trust
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Examples of assign in a Sentence
Verb
The teacher assigned us 50 math problems for homework! She was assigned to the embassy in India. The new teacher was assigned to the science laboratory. The plane landed at its assigned gate.
Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
In Sāmoa, there are the fa’afafine: assigned male at birth individuals with a third gender identity who encompass both feminine and masculine qualities. — Carter Schneider, Teen Vogue, ""I'll Be in Transition Forever": Trans-masculine and Non-binary People Talk Identity, Affirmation, and More," 6 Dec. 2018 This is an M1A1 Abrams assigned to Fort Stewart, Georgia. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "The U.S. Military’s Cryptic Letters, Numbers, and Symbols, Explained," 6 Dec. 2018 As a young girl who loved (and still absolutely loves) her dad, the tale of Brangelina provided me with the perfect way to avoid assigning my father any blame. — Samantha Leach, Glamour, "My Parents Divorced at the Same Time as Brad and Jen—and Yes, There Was an Angelina," 29 Nov. 2018 Compared with the control group, the fasters averaged 6 percent weight loss, and those assigned to CR averaged about 5 percent, according to the 2017 paper in JAMA Internal Medicine. — Mark Barna, Discover Magazine, "Not So Fast," 24 Sep. 2018 The following season, the show brought on That 70s Show’s Debra Jo Rupp as the social worker assigned to Dasia and the Pearson family. — Kelly O'sullivan, Country Living, "'This Is Us' Casts 'Malcolm in the Middle' Star Jane Kaczmarek in Season 3," 22 Aug. 2018 But when Cody's gets assigned a mission to get close to his crush Natalie Connors in order to gain access to her scientist father, the mission proves difficult because the CIA forgot to train him in one super important skill: how to talk to girls. — Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, "21 Best Teen Movies You Can't Grow Up Without Watching," 26 July 2018 Most of the participants assigned the treatment completed the full course, researchers said. — Kate Thayer, chicagotribune.com, "Virtual reality can help people overcome fear of heights, study shows," 12 July 2018 Gualtieri said Cruz was assigned to report to Pine Ridge Education Center on Nov. 26, just before the Thanksgiving holiday. — Colleen Wright, miamiherald, "Broward's PROMISE program "irrelevant" to Nikolas Cruz's massacre, commission says," 10 July 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
IBT Media and its affiliates, successors, assigns, employees, agents, directors, officers and shareholders do not undertake or assume any duty to monitor our site for inappropriate or unlawful content. — Newsweek, "Terms of Service," 14 Mar. 2018 Schools that are oversubscribed assign seats by lottery. — Kate Taylor, New York Times, "City Announces Plan to Diversify Lower Manhattan Schools," 26 Oct. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'assign.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for assign
assign
verb
English Language Learners Definition of assign
: to give someone a particular job or duty : to require someone to do a particular task
: to send (someone) to a particular group or place as part of a job
: to give out something : to provide someone with something
See the full definition for assign in the English Language Learners Dictionary
assign
verb
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Kids Definition of assign
1 : to give out as a job or responsibility Our teacher assigned homework in math.
2 : to give out to : provide Each student is assigned a locker.
3 : to give a particular quality, value, or identity to Assign a number to each picture.
assign
transitive verb
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Legal Definition of assign
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : to transfer (property or rights) to another the general practice by inventors of assigning patent rights— J. K. Owens
2 : to appoint to a post or duty assigned to represent the defendant
3 : to fix or specify in relationship or correspondence a party may assign as error…a failure to give an instruction, if that party properly requested it — Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 51
Other Words from assign
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noun
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adjective
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noun
assign
nounLegal Definition of assign (Entry 2 of 2)
: assignee
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