Meaning & use

attribution

noun·Academic

The act of crediting a piece of work, quote, or action to a particular source or person.

See it in a sentence

The journalist added an attribution to the anonymous source at the end of the article.

Proper attribution of quotes prevents accusations of plagiarism in academic writing.

A note on using this word

Standard in academic and journalistic writing; the related verb is "attribute," as in "attribute the quote to."

Words with a similar meaning

creditacknowledgment

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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