Meaning & use
asset
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
Something useful or valuable about a person, team or thing that helps it succeed.
Grammar: Countable and often followed by to: an asset to the team.
Patterns
- an asset to someone
- a great asset
- an asset in doing something
Her calm manner is a real asset to the team.
Speaking two languages is a huge asset in this job.
The garden is the biggest asset of the house.
nounusually pluralfinancebusiness
Property or money owned by a person or company that has value and could be sold.
Grammar: Usually plural in finance: company assets.
Patterns
- freeze assets
- sell assets
- assets and liabilities
The court froze the company's assets.
Their main assets are the building and the equipment.
He sold several assets to pay off the debt.
nouncountablecomputingtechnical
A digital file or resource, such as an image or sound, used in a project.
Grammar: Countable in design and games: game assets.
Patterns
- design assets
- digital assets
The artist uploaded all the image assets to the shared folder.
Game assets include characters, music and maps.
Brand assets such as logos should be stored in one place.
nouncountablemilitaryspecialist
A person who secretly passes information to an intelligence agency.
Grammar: Countable in spy contexts: an intelligence asset.
Patterns
- an asset in a place
The agency recruited a trusted asset inside the ministry.
The asset provided details about the planned meeting.
Word forms
| plural | assets |
|---|
Common combinations
- a valuable asset
- Experience is a valuable asset when applying for jobs.
- freeze assets
- The bank froze the suspect's assets.
- liquid assets
- She kept some liquid assets in a savings account.
- net assets
- The firm's net assets grew last year.
- an asset to
- He is an asset to the school.
- digital assets
- Digital assets must be backed up regularly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- advantage
- Advantage means something that puts you ahead of others, while asset is a positive quality or valuable item you have.
- strength
- Strength is a personal quality, whereas asset can also be an owned object.
- resource
- Resource is something you can draw on when needed, which is wider than an owned asset.
- property
- Property means things you own, but it ignores the idea of usefulness that asset suggests.
Opposites
Word family
- asset-rich adjective
- owning much valuable property but little cash
- asset management noun
- the professional handling of investments
- assets noun
- plural form for owned wealth
Commonly confused: asset or assess?
asset vs assess
Assess is a verb meaning to judge the value or quality of something; asset is a noun.
Practice
With three languages and ten years of experience, Priya is a real ____ to our department.
Choose one answer.
An asset to someone is a valuable benefit. A liability is the opposite, and an obstacle or expense would not be praise.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “asset”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.