Meaning & use
reassign
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To move someone to a different job, team, or place of work, usually by official decision.
Grammar: Takes a person as object, usually with to: the firm reassigned her to the Paris office.
Patterns
- reassign someone to something
- reassign someone from something to something
The company reassigned two engineers to the new project.
After the merger, he was reassigned to the night shift.
The principal reassigned the teacher from fourth grade to sixth.
verbtransitive
To hand a task, case, or responsibility to someone else instead of the person who had it.
Grammar: Takes a task or case as object: she reassigned the report to Omar.
Patterns
- reassign something to someone
- reassign something
The manager reassigned the report to a more experienced colleague.
The judge reassigned the case after a conflict of interest came up.
Tickets that stay open for a week are reassigned to a different agent.
verbtransitivecomputing
To give a variable, value, or label a new meaning or content in a program or system.
Grammar: Takes the value or variable as object: reassign the variable.
Patterns
- reassign something to something
- reassign a value
The script reassigns the variable on every pass through the loop.
You cannot reassign a constant once it has been set.
Reassign the shortcut to a different key if it conflicts.
Word forms
| third person singular | reassigns |
|---|---|
| past tense | reassigned |
| past participle | reassigned |
| -ing form | reassigning |
Common combinations
- reassign to
- The nurse was reassigned to the emergency ward.
- reassign staff
- The hospital had to reassign staff during the flu outbreak.
- reassign duties
- Her duties were reassigned while she was on leave.
- reassign a case
- The prosecutor asked to have the case reassigned.
- be reassigned
- Several officers were reassigned after the inquiry.
Synonyms and how they differ
- transfer
- Transfer often means a move that the person asks for or that is permanent, while reassign stresses that someone in charge decided it.
- redeploy
- Redeploy is common for moving staff or equipment where they are most needed, often in military or large organizational settings.
- reallocate
- Reallocate is normally used for resources like money or time, whereas reassign is mainly used for people and tasks.
- delegate
- Delegate means handing work to someone below you, but it does not imply taking the work from a previous holder.
Opposites
Word family
- assign verb
- to give someone a job, task, or place
- reassignment noun
- the act of giving a new role or task
- assignment noun
- a task or piece of work given to someone
- reassigned adjective
- moved to a new post or given to a new person
Commonly confused: reassign or resign?
reassign vs resign
Resign means to leave a job by your own choice, while reassign means that someone else moves you to a different job or task.
Practice
After the department closed, the company ___ most of the staff to other offices.
Choose one answer.
Reassigned means moved to a different post by the employer. Resigned is the confusable word, but it means people quit their jobs themselves, which does not fit moving them to other offices.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “reassign”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.