as in attributing
to explain (something) as being the result of something else
ascribed their stunning military victory to good intelligence beforehand
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Recent Examples of ascribing
The actress is cautious in ascribing too much power to her position.
—
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 15 Dec. 2025
Describing African resistance to slavery as a form of fugitive politics enables us, moreover, to confront accounts that, while acknowledging the reality of the resistance of the enslaved, end up depoliticizing it by ascribing it primarily to private emotions such as fear.
—Literary Hub, 5 Dec. 2025
In a nutshell, conservative commentators are blaming any sad feelings the song evokes on feminism, ascribing the fact that Ballerini doesn’t have any kids to wokeness at large.
—Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 17 Nov. 2025
Poor luck plagued him, but ascribing all of this outing to misfortune is misguided.
—Chandler Rome, New York Times, 7 Aug. 2025
Over subsequent decades, this credo would face challenges, including from New Deal–era progressives wary of rich men ascribing to charity what was properly the realm of the state and of McCarthyite conservatives targeting philanthropic foundations as part of anticommunist fearmongering.
—Mark Malloch-Brown, Foreign Affairs, 15 Jan. 2024
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 15 Dec. 2025
Describing African resistance to slavery as a form of fugitive politics enables us, moreover, to confront accounts that, while acknowledging the reality of the resistance of the enslaved, end up depoliticizing it by ascribing it primarily to private emotions such as fear.
—Literary Hub, 5 Dec. 2025
In a nutshell, conservative commentators are blaming any sad feelings the song evokes on feminism, ascribing the fact that Ballerini doesn’t have any kids to wokeness at large.
—Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 17 Nov. 2025
Poor luck plagued him, but ascribing all of this outing to misfortune is misguided.
—Chandler Rome, New York Times, 7 Aug. 2025
Over subsequent decades, this credo would face challenges, including from New Deal–era progressives wary of rich men ascribing to charity what was properly the realm of the state and of McCarthyite conservatives targeting philanthropic foundations as part of anticommunist fearmongering.
—Mark Malloch-Brown, Foreign Affairs, 15 Jan. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ascribing
attributing
Verb
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In 2021, San Diego prosecutors unsealed an indictment attributing an explosion of violence in Tijuana to a criminal cell known as Los Cabos, who allegedly acted as a brutal enforcement arm of the CJNG.—
Alexandra Mendoza,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
28 Feb. 2026
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In mid-February, Publishers Weekly reported that a hundred thousand copies of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel had sold in the first two months of this year, compared with a hundred and eighty thousand total last year, attributing the increase to book clubs and influencers of all stripes embracing it.—
Radhika Jones,
New Yorker,
26 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Ascribing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ascribing. Accessed 7 Mar. 2026.
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