appointment

/əˈpɔɪntmənt/

/əˈpɔɪntmɛnt/

Other forms: appointments

An appointment is a preset arrangement to meet, like a dentist’s appointment, an appointment with your accountant, or an appointment to have your palm read.

An appointment is a formal date or plan to meet at the appointed time. Whether you have a doctor’s appointment, a hair appointment, or a 1 o’clock lunch appointment, you need to be there — or you’ll have a broken appointment. It’s easier to remember your appointments if you write them down! With roots in the Old French apointier, meaning to “arrange, settle, or place," appointment can also mean the placing, or appointing of, someone into an unelected position.

Definitions of appointment

1. noun

   a meeting arranged in advance
   synonyms: date, engagement

   types:

   blind date

   a date with a stranger

   double date

   a date in which two couples participate

   rendezvous, tryst

   a date, usually with a love interest

   type of:

   get together, get-together, meeting

   a small informal social gathering
2. noun

   the act of putting a person into a non-elective position
   “the appointment had to be approved by the whole committee”

   synonyms: assignment, designation, naming

   types:

   nomination

   the act of officially naming a candidate

   co-optation, co-option

   the act of appointing summarily (with or without the appointee's consent)

   delegacy

   the appointment of a delegate

   ordinance, ordination

   the act of ordaining; the act of conferring (or receiving) holy orders

   recognition

   designation by the chair granting a person the right to speak in a deliberative body

   laying on of hands

   laying hands on a person's head to invoke spiritual blessing in Christian ordination

   type of:

   conclusion, decision, determination

   the act of making up your mind about something
3. noun

   a person who is appointed to a job or position
   synonyms: appointee

   type of:

   individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul

   a human being
4. noun

   the job to which you are (or hope to be) appointed
   “he applied for an appointment in the treasury”

   type of:

   business, job, line, line of work, occupation

   the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money
5. noun

   (usually plural) furnishings and equipment (especially for a ship or hotel)
   synonyms: fitting

   type of:

   furnishing

   (usually plural) the instrumentalities (furniture and appliances and other movable accessories including curtains and rugs) that make a home (or other area) livable
6. noun

   (law) the act of disposing of property by virtue of the power of appointment
   “she allocated part of the trust to her church by appointment”

   type of:

   disposal, disposition, heave-ho

   the act or means of getting rid of something