Thesaurus results for IMPUTE

Q: How is the word 'impute' different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of impute are ascribe , assign , attribute , and credit . While all these words mean "to lay something to the account of a person or thing," impute suggests ascribing something that brings discredit by way of accusation or blame. // tried to impute sinister motives to my actions

Q: When can 'ascribe' be used instead of 'impute'?

The synonyms ascribe and impute are sometimes interchangeable, but ascribe suggests an inferring or conjecturing of cause, quality, authorship. // forged paintings formerly ascribed to masters

Q: When is 'assign' a more appropriate choice than 'impute'?

The meanings of assign and impute largely overlap; however, assign implies ascribing with certainty or after deliberation. // assigned the bones to the Cretaceous period

Q: How is 'attribute' related to other words for 'impute'?

Attribute suggests less tentativeness than ascribe , less definiteness than assign . // attributed to Rembrandt but possibly done by an associate

Q: When would 'credit' be a good substitute for 'impute'?

The words credit and impute are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, 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

impute

verb

im-ˈpyüt

Definition of impute next

as in to ascribe

to explain (something) as being the result of something else people often impute his silence to unfriendliness and not to the shyness it really represents

Synonyms & Similar Words

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How is the word impute different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of impute are ascribe, assign, attribute, and credit. While all these words mean "to lay something to the account of a person or thing," impute suggests ascribing something that brings discredit by way of accusation or blame.

tried to impute sinister motives to my actions

When can ascribe be used instead of impute?

The synonyms ascribe and impute are sometimes interchangeable, but ascribe suggests an inferring or conjecturing of cause, quality, authorship.

forged paintings formerly ascribed to masters

When is assign a more appropriate choice than impute?

The meanings of assign and impute largely overlap; however, assign implies ascribing with certainty or after deliberation.

assigned the bones to the Cretaceous period

How is attribute related to other words for impute?

Attribute suggests less tentativeness than ascribe, less definiteness than assign.

attributed to Rembrandt but possibly done by an associate

When would credit be a good substitute for impute?

The words credit and impute are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, 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

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of impute That means that now, more than a third of price data in the CPI is imputed—estimated rather than directly observed—since fewer agents are collecting prices in person. —

Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2025 That data is then preprocessed by imputing gaps, flagging outliers and normalizing signals. —

Nagesh Nama, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025 That imputes a total cost of $566 million. —

Thomas Gounley, Denver Post, 4 Sep. 2025 Estimates are that some 35% of BLS data for its price reports is affected in some way by imputing. —

Jeff Cox, CNBC, 11 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for impute

Recent Examples of Synonyms for impute

Verb

Economists generally have calculated that whatever economic growth could be ascribed to the change would be washed out by the revenue loss from inflation-indexing only new purchases, and utterly swamped by the cost of indexing all holdings, past and future.

— Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2026
And to dust off some golden-oldie phraseology that fans, friends and media often ascribe to great athletes who’ve made epic falls, Ilia Malinin will be back.

— Steve Buckley, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2026