Meaning & use
assign
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To hand someone a particular job, duty or piece of work that they are expected to do.
Grammar: Takes an object: assign tasks. Use to for the person: assign the task to Maria, or assign Maria the task.
Patterns
- assign something to someone
- assign someone something
- assign someone to something
The teacher assigned each group a different chapter to present.
My manager assigned the budget report to me last Friday.
The company assigned two engineers to the new project.
verbtransitive
To set aside a specific value, label or position for something or someone.
Grammar: Takes an object and often a to-phrase: assign a number to each seat.
Patterns
- assign something to something
- assign a value to something
The software assigns a unique number to every customer.
Judges will assign points for creativity and accuracy.
We assigned seats before the guests arrived.
verbtransitivelegal
To formally transfer a right, property or legal claim to another person.
Grammar: Takes an object and to: assign the lease to a buyer.
Patterns
- assign something to someone
The artist assigned the copyright to her publisher.
He assigned his share of the property to his daughter.
The tenant may not assign the lease without permission.
verbtransitiveformal
To name a cause, reason or origin for something, often without being certain.
Grammar: Takes an object and to: assign a cause to an event.
Patterns
- assign something to something
Historians assign the painting to the early sixteenth century.
It is unwise to assign blame before the facts are known.
Experts assigned the crash to a faulty valve.
Word forms
| third person singular | assigns |
|---|---|
| past tense | assigned |
| past participle | assigned |
| -ing form | assigning |
Common combinations
- assign a task
- Please assign a task to every member of the team.
- assign homework
- Our teacher rarely assigns homework on weekends.
- assign blame
- It is too early to assign blame for the delay.
- assign a value
- The program will assign a value to each variable.
- assigned seating
- The theater uses assigned seating for every show.
- assign someone to a case
- The agency assigned an experienced officer to the case.
Synonyms and how they differ
- allocate
- Allocate usually refers to sharing out resources such as money or time, whereas assign is more often about giving tasks or roles.
- delegate
- Delegate implies handing over part of your own responsibility to someone else, which assign does not necessarily suggest.
- appoint
- Appoint is used for choosing a person for an official position, so it is more formal than assign.
- allot
- Allot suggests giving each person a fixed share, and it is more formal than assign.
Opposites
Word family
- assignment noun
- a task given to someone, or the act of giving it
- assigned adjective
- given to a person as a task or position
- assignee noun
- a person who receives a task or a transferred right
- reassign verb
- to give someone a different task or position
- assignable adjective
- able to be given or transferred
Commonly confused: assign or consign?
assign vs consign
Consign means to hand something over to a place or fate, often unwanted, as in consigned to the attic, while assign gives someone a duty or role.
Practice
The editor decided to ___ the front-page story to her most experienced reporter.
Choose one answer.
Assign something to someone is the pattern for giving them a task. Consign means to send or relegate something, and resign and design have different meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “assign”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.