Cambridge Dictionary

  • Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of assignment in English

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

  • It was a jammy assignment - more of a holiday really.
  • He took this award-winning photograph while on assignment in the Middle East .
  • His two-year assignment to the Mexico office starts in September .
  • She first visited Norway on assignment for the winter Olympics ten years ago.
  • He fell in love with the area after being there on assignment for National Geographic in the 1950s.
  • act as something
  • all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy) idiom
  • be at work idiom
  • be in work idiom
  • housekeeping
  • in the line of duty idiom
  • undertaking

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

assignment | American Dictionary

Assignment | business english, examples of assignment, collocations with assignment.

These are words often used in combination with assignment .

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

Translations of assignment

Get a quick, free translation!

{{randomImageQuizHook.quizId}}

Word of the Day

an occasion when a driver in a motor race stops in the pits (= area where cars are repaired)

Apples and oranges (Talking about differences, Part 2)

Apples and oranges (Talking about differences, Part 2)

how to spell assignment

Learn more with +Plus

  • Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
  • Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
  • Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
  • Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
  • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
  • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
  • English–Dutch Dutch–English
  • English–French French–English
  • English–German German–English
  • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
  • English–Italian Italian–English
  • English–Japanese Japanese–English
  • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
  • English–Polish Polish–English
  • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
  • English–Spanish Spanish–English
  • English–Swedish Swedish–English
  • Dictionary +Plus Word Lists
  • on assignment
  • American    Noun
  • Collocations
  • Translations
  • All translations

To add assignment to a word list please sign up or log in.

Add assignment to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{message}}

Something went wrong.

There was a problem sending your report.

  • More from M-W
  • To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In

Definition of assign

 (Entry 1 of 2)

transitive verb

Definition of assign  (Entry 2 of 2)

  • intrust

ascribe , attribute , assign , impute , credit mean to lay something to the account of a person or thing.

ascribe suggests an inferring or conjecturing of cause, quality, authorship.

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

assign implies ascribing with certainty or after deliberation.

impute suggests ascribing something that brings discredit by way of accusation or blame.

credit implies ascribing a thing or especially an action to a person or other thing as its agent, source, or explanation.

Examples of assign in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'assign.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Verb and Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French assigner , from Latin assignare , from ad- + signare to mark, from signum mark, sign

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing assign

  • pre - assign

Dictionary Entries Near assign

Cite this entry.

“Assign.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assign. Accessed 23 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of assign, legal definition, legal definition of assign.

Legal Definition of assign  (Entry 2 of 2)

More from Merriam-Webster on assign

Nglish: Translation of assign for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of assign for Arabic Speakers

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries.  Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the day.

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

More commonly misspelled words, your vs. you're: how to use them correctly, every letter is silent, sometimes: a-z list of examples, more commonly mispronounced words, how to use em dashes (—), en dashes (–) , and hyphens (-), popular in wordplay, flower etymologies for your spring garden, the words of the week - may 17, birds say the darndest things, a great big list of bread words, 10 scrabble words without any vowels, games & quizzes.

Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.

  • Daily Crossword
  • Word Puzzle
  • Word Finder
  • Word of the Day
  • Synonym of the Day
  • Word of the Year
  • Language stories
  • All featured
  • Gender and sexuality
  • All pop culture
  • Writing hub
  • Grammar essentials
  • Commonly confused
  • All writing tips
  • Pop culture
  • Writing tips

Advertisement

[ uh - sahyn -m uh nt ]

She completed the assignment and went on to other jobs.

Synonyms: job , obligation

He left for his assignment in the Middle East.

  • an act of assigning; appointment.
  • the transference of a right, interest, or title, or the instrument of transfer.
  • a transference of property to assignees for the benefit of creditors.

/ əˈsaɪnmənt /

  • something that has been assigned, such as a mission or task
  • a position or post to which a person is assigned
  • the act of assigning or state of being assigned

assignment of a lease

  • the document effecting such a transfer
  • the right, interest, or property transferred
  • law (formerly) the transfer, esp by an insolvent debtor, of property in trust for the benefit of his creditors
  • logic a function that associates specific values with each variable in a formal expression
  • history a system (1789–1841) whereby a convict could become the unpaid servant of a freeman

Discover More

Other words from.

  • misas·signment noun
  • nonas·signment noun
  • reas·signment noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of assignment 1

Synonym Study

Example sentences.

Yariel Valdés González and I faced these challenges while on assignment in South Florida and the Deep South from July 21-Aug.

They’re putting time into decoration just as they would in their physical classroom, and students can interact with the space by, say, clicking on a bookshelf to get a reading assignment.

For now, if the district moves to in-person learning, instruction in Carlsbad will take place on campus five days per week and students may engage in additional independent practices and other assignments at home.

The assignments must also respect the relationships between the elements in the group.

It’s very hard, by the way, to do real random assignment studies of couples therapy.

His most recent assignment was the 84th Precinct, at the Brooklyn end of the Brooklyn Bridge.

When Lewis was shipped off to Vietnam, his son was just three months old, and the timing of the assignment worried Lewis.

When Vial got that first assignment, she was just beginning her photography career, and Cirque du Soleil was only a few years old.

“For our winter issue, we gave ourselves one assignment: Break The Internet,” wrote Paper.

By the 1950s the rapid assignment of gender to an ambiguously gendered infant had become standard.

Consent to an assignment may be given by the president of the company, without formal vote by the directors.

A transfer by the lessee of the whole or a part of his interest for a part of the time is a sublease and not an assignment.

An assignment to one who has an insurable interest as relative, creditor and the like, is always valid.

When an assignment of it is made, the assignee may sue in his own name for rent accruing after the assignment.

In some states statutes forbid the assignment of such policies for the benefit of creditors.

Related Words

  • appointment
  • Dictionaries home
  • American English
  • Collocations
  • German-English
  • Grammar home
  • Practical English Usage
  • Learn & Practise Grammar (Beta)
  • Word Lists home
  • My Word Lists
  • Recent additions
  • Resources home
  • Text Checker

Definition of assign verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

  • assign something (to somebody) The teacher assigned a different task to each of the children.
  • The two large classrooms have been assigned to us.
  • assign somebody something We have been assigned the two large classrooms.
  • The teacher assigned each of the children a different task.

Want to learn more?

Find out which words work together and produce more natural-sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

how to spell assignment

assignment in British English

Assignment in american english, examples of 'assignment' in a sentence assignment, cobuild collocations assignment, trends of assignment.

View usage for: All Years Last 10 years Last 50 years Last 100 years Last 300 years

Browse alphabetically assignment

  • assigned randomly
  • assigned risk
  • assimilability
  • assimilable
  • All ENGLISH words that begin with 'A'

Related terms of assignment

  • seat assignment
  • tough assignment
  • writing assignment
  • challenging assignment
  • difficult assignment
  • View more related words

Quick word challenge

Quiz Review

Score: 0 / 5

Image

Wordle Helper

Tile

Scrabble Tools

Image

COMMENTS

  1. ASSIGNMENT

    noun [ C/U ] us / əˈsɑɪn·mənt / Add to word list. a particular job or responsibility given to you: [ C ] The homework assignment was to read Chapter 2 in our history book. Idiom. on assignment. (Definition of assignment from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press) assignment | Business English. noun.

  2. Assignment

    An assignment is a task that someone in authority has asked you to do. The word assignment is just the noun form of the common verb assign , which you use when you want to give someone a duty or a job.

  3. assignment noun

    Check pronunciation: assignment. Definition of assignment noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

  4. Assign Definition & Meaning

    The meaning of ASSIGN is to transfer (property) to another especially in trust or for the benefit of creditors. How to use assign in a sentence. Synonym Discussion of Assign.

  5. ASSIGNMENT Definition & Meaning

    / əˈsaɪnmənt / noun. something that has been assigned, such as a mission or task. a position or post to which a person is assigned. the act of assigning or state of being assigned. law. the transfer to another of a right, interest, or title to property, esp personal property. assignment of a lease. the document effecting such a transfer.

  6. assign verb

    Definition of assign verb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

  7. assignment

    1, 2. obligation, job. 1. See task. Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: assignment /əˈsaɪnmənt/ n. something that has been assigned, such as a mission or task. a position or post to which a person is assigned. the act of assigning or state of being assigned.

  8. ASSIGNMENT definition and meaning

    1. countable noun. An assignment is a task or piece of work that you are given to do, especially as part of your job or studies . The assessment for the course involves written assignments and practical tests. Synonyms: task, work, job, charge More Synonyms of assignment. 2. uncountable noun.