assign

/əˈsaɪn/

/əˈsaɪn/

Other forms: assigned; assigns; assigning

To assign is to specify something or someone for a specific purpose. If your sisters fight over whose turn it is to sit in the front seat, your parents may have to assign turns.

The verb assign also means to transfer legal rights. You assign the deed to your house to new owners when you sell it. If you sort things into categories by characteristics, you are assigning them categories. When you make a budget, you assign each expense a category. Food and housing, for example, may be essential living expenses and medicine and doctor's visits may be health care. Chocolate gets its own category.

Definitions of assign

1. verb

   select something or someone for a specific purpose
   “The teacher assigned him to lead his classmates in the exercise”

   synonyms: set apart, specify

   types:

   dedicate

   set apart to sacred uses with solemn rites, of a church

   detail

   assign to a specific task

   type of:

   choose, pick out, select, take

   pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
2. verb

   give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person)
   synonyms: delegate, depute, designate

   types:

   mandate

   assign authority to

   cast

   select to play,sing, or dance a part in a play, movie, musical, opera, or ballet

   post

   assign to a post; put into a post

   cast

   assign the roles of (a movie or a play) to actors

   devolve

   pass on or delegate to another

   task

   assign a task to

   place

   place somebody in a particular situation or location

   regiment

   assign to a regiment

   reassign, transfer

   transfer somebody to a different position or location of work

   delegate, depute

   transfer power to someone

   mandate

   assign under a mandate

   advance, elevate, kick upstairs, promote, raise, upgrade

   give a promotion to or assign to a higher position

   break, bump, demote, kick downstairs, relegate

   assign to a lower position; reduce in rank

   place

   assign to (a job or a home)

   recast

   cast again, in a different role

   miscast

   cast an actor, singer, or dancer in an unsuitable role

   typecast

   cast repeatedly in the same kind of role

   second

   transfer an employee to a different, temporary assignment

   exchange

   hand over one and receive another, approximately equivalent

   tenure

   give life-time employment to

   bring up

   promote from a lower position or rank

   spot promote

   promote on the spot

   ennoble, entitle, gentle

   give a title to someone; make someone a member of the nobility

   sideline

   remove from the center of activity or attention; place into an inferior position

   reduce

   bring to humbler or weaker state or condition

   favor, favour, prefer

   promote or prefer over another

   brevet

   promote somebody by brevet, in the military

   type of:

   appoint, charge

   assign a duty, responsibility, or obligation to
3. verb

   decide as to where something belongs in a scheme
   “The biologist assigned the mushroom to the proper class”

   synonyms: attribute

   types:

   classify, relegate

   assign to a class or kind

   type of:

   evaluate, judge, pass judgment

   form a critical opinion of
4. verb

   give out
   “We were assigned new uniforms”

   synonyms: allot, portion

   types:

   allow, appropriate, earmark, reserve, set aside

   give or assign a resource to a particular person or cause

   allocate, apportion

   distribute according to a plan or set apart for a special purpose

   reallocate, reapportion

   allocate, distribute, or apportion anew

   ration, ration out

   distribute in rations, as in the army

   award, present

   give, especially as an honor or reward

   type of:

   administer, allot, deal, deal out, dish out, dispense, distribute, dole, dole out, lot, mete, mete out, parcel out, shell out

   administer or bestow, as in small portions
5. verb

   attribute or give
   synonyms: put

   types:

   repose

   put or confide something in a person or thing

   type of:

   apply, employ, use, utilise, utilize

   put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose
6. verb

   attribute or credit to
   synonyms: ascribe, attribute, impute

   impute

   attribute (responsibility or fault) to a cause or source

   types:

   impute

   attribute (responsibility or fault) to a cause or source

   carnalise, carnalize, sensualise, sensualize

   ascribe to an origin in sensation

   credit

   give someone credit for something

   reattribute

   attribute to another source

   anthropomorphise, anthropomorphize

   ascribe human features to something

   personate, personify

   attribute human qualities to something

   accredit, credit

   ascribe an achievement to

   blame, charge

   attribute responsibility to

   externalise, externalize, project

   regard as objective

   interiorise, interiorize, internalise, internalize

   incorporate within oneself; make subjective or personal

   type of:

   evaluate, judge, pass judgment

   form a critical opinion of
7. verb

   transfer one's right to
   type of:

   transfer

   cause to change ownership
8. verb

   make undue claims to having
   synonyms: arrogate

   type of:

   arrogate, claim, lay claim

   demand as being one's due or property; assert one's right or title to