Meaning & use
appoint
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To officially choose someone to do a particular job or hold a position.
Grammar: Takes an object and often as or to: they appointed her as manager.
Patterns
- appoint someone as something
- appoint someone to something
- appoint someone to do something
The board appointed a new director in March.
The mayor appointed her as head of the planning office.
They appointed him to lead the investigation.
verbtransitiveformal
To decide on and announce a time or place for something to happen.
Grammar: Takes an object such as a date or place; the form is formal and fairly rare.
Patterns
- appoint a time
The judge appointed a date for the hearing.
They met at the appointed hour.
A place was appointed for the final meeting.
verbtransitiveformal
To supply or furnish a room or building with equipment, mostly used in the past participle.
Grammar: Almost always seen as appointed, usually after an adverb: a well-appointed suite.
Patterns
- well appointed
The hotel offers a beautifully appointed suite.
The office was richly appointed with leather chairs.
A well-appointed kitchen made cooking a pleasure.
Word forms
| third person singular | appoints |
|---|---|
| past tense | appointed |
| past participle | appointed |
| -ing form | appointing |
Common combinations
- appoint a successor
- The chairman will appoint a successor next month.
- appoint a committee
- The council appointed a committee to review the plan.
- newly appointed
- The newly appointed teacher greeted the class.
- appoint someone to a post
- She was appointed to a senior post in the ministry.
- the appointed time
- We arrived at the appointed time.
- well appointed
- They stayed in a well-appointed flat near the park.
Synonyms and how they differ
- name
- Name is shorter and common in news reports, while appoint sounds like an official procedure.
- nominate
- Nominate means to put someone forward as a candidate, but does not mean the person gets the job.
- hire
- Hire is the everyday word for employing someone, while appoint suits public or senior positions.
- designate
- Designate stresses marking someone or something for a role, often in formal or legal texts.
Opposites
Word family
- appointment noun
- a job position, or an arranged meeting
- appointee noun
- a person who has been appointed
- appointed adjective
- chosen or fixed in advance
- reappoint verb
- to appoint someone again
- disappoint verb
- to fail to meet someone's hopes
Commonly confused: appoint or disappoint?
appoint vs disappoint
Disappoint means to let someone down; appoint means to select someone for a role. Despite the shared spelling, their meanings are unrelated.
Practice
The prime minister has ___ a new minister for transport.
Choose one answer.
Appointed means formally chosen for a position, which fits. Disappointed means let down, and approved does not fit the pattern with the object.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “appoint”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.