meaning of assignment in noun

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assignment noun

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What does the noun assignment mean?

There are 14 meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun assignment , six of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

assignment has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

How common is the noun assignment ?

How is the noun assignment pronounced, british english, u.s. english, where does the noun assignment come from.

Earliest known use

Middle English

The earliest known use of the noun assignment is in the Middle English period (1150—1500).

OED's earliest evidence for assignment is from 1393, in the writing of John Gower, poet.

assignment is a borrowing from French.

Etymons: French assignement .

Nearby entries

• assignably, adv. 1674–
• assignat, n. 1790–
• assignate, adj. 1471
• assignation, n. a1400–
• assigned, adj. c1374–
• assignee, adj. & n. 1419–
• assigneeism, n. 1883–
• assigneeship, n. 1829–
• assigner, n. 1667–
• assigning, n. 1580–
• assignment, n. 1393–
• assignor, n. 1690–
• assilag, n. 1698–
• assimilability, n. a1834–
• assimilable, adj. & n. 1646–
• assimilado, n. 1953–
• assimilant, adj. & n. 1680–84
• assimilate, adj. & n. 1671–
• assimilate, v. 1578–
• assimilated, adj. 1797–
• assimilateness, n. 1731–

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Meaning & use

Pronunciation, compounds & derived words, entry history for assignment, n..

assignment, n. was first published in 1885; not yet revised.

assignment, n. was last modified in March 2024.

Revision of the OED is a long-term project. Entries in oed.com which have not been revised may include:

• corrections and revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
• new senses, phrases, and quotations which have been added in subsequent print and online updates.

Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into assignment, n. in March 2024.

Earlier versions of this entry were published in:

OED First Edition (1885)

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OED Second Edition (1989)

• View assignment in OED Second Edition

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Citation details

Factsheet for assignment, n., browse entry.

Definition of 'assignment'

Video: pronunciation of assignment

assignment in American English

Assignment in british english, examples of 'assignment' in a sentence assignment, related word partners assignment, trends of assignment.

View usage over: Since Exist Last 10 years Last 50 years Last 100 years Last 300 years

Browse alphabetically assignment

• assigned randomly
• assigned risk
• assimilability
• assimilable
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'A'

Related terms of assignment

• seat assignment
• tough assignment
• writing assignment
• challenging assignment
• difficult assignment
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Synonyms of assignment

• as in lesson
• as in appointment
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Thesaurus Definition of assignment

Synonyms & Similar Words

• responsibility
• undertaking
• requirement
• designation
• appointment
• authorization
• installment
• installation
• destination
• emplacement
• investiture
• singling (out)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• dethronement

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun assignment contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of assignment are chore , duty , job , stint , and task . While all these words mean "a piece of work to be done," assignment implies a definite limited task assigned by one in authority.

When is it sensible to use chore instead of assignment ?

While the synonyms chore and assignment are close in meaning, chore implies a minor routine activity necessary for maintaining a household or farm.

When is duty a more appropriate choice than assignment ?

Although the words duty and assignment have much in common, duty implies an obligation to perform or responsibility for performance.

When might job be a better fit than assignment ?

The synonyms job and assignment are sometimes interchangeable, but job applies to a piece of work voluntarily performed; it may sometimes suggest difficulty or importance.

When could stint be used to replace assignment ?

In some situations, the words stint and assignment are roughly equivalent. However, stint implies a carefully allotted or measured quantity of assigned work or service.

When can task be used instead of assignment ?

The meanings of task and assignment largely overlap; however, task implies work imposed by a person in authority or an employer or by circumstance.

Thesaurus Entries Near assignment

assignments

Cite this Entry

“Assignment.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/assignment. Accessed 2 Apr. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on assignment

Nglish: Translation of assignment for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of assignment for Arabic Speakers

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something assigned, as a particular task or duty: She completed the assignment and went on to other jobs.

a position of responsibility, post of duty, or the like, to which one is appointed: He left for his assignment in the Middle East.

an act of assigning; appointment.

the transference of a right, interest, or title, or the instrument of transfer.

a transference of property to assignees for the benefit of creditors.

Origin of assignment

Synonym study for assignment, other words for assignment, other words from assignment.

• mis·as·sign·ment, noun
• non·as·sign·ment, noun
• re·as·sign·ment, noun

Words that may be confused with assignment

• assignment , assignation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use assignment in a sentence

He traveled to China, India, Russia, and Africa for fashion-related assignments.

Among his previous assignments were stints in war zones like Afghanistan and the Congo.

He also had a reputation for not sticking to the brief of his assignments.

His writing assignments were filled with “a disturbing level” of mayhem, war, and death.

The first faux-Fleming assignments went to writers such as Kingsley Amis (writing as “Robert Markham”) and John Gardner.

Toward the end of the campaign his assignments increased until all his time was taken.

Assignments came to be made of one acre to a family, near the palisaded hamlet for convenience and better security.

For a short time he had no assignments that taxed his abilities in either direction.

If you make as good time as you have made on some other assignments, you can get back here before 10:30.

Not a lot of business-reporting assignments involved spending time with half-naked, sun-baked dudes in remote southern junkyards.

British Dictionary definitions for assignment

/ ( əˈsaɪnmənt ) /

something that has been assigned, such as a mission or task

a position or post to which a person is assigned

the act of assigning or state of being assigned

the transfer to another of a right, interest, or title to property, esp personal property : assignment of a lease

the document effecting such a transfer

the right, interest, or property transferred

law (formerly) the transfer, esp by an insolvent debtor, of property in trust for the benefit of his creditors

logic a function that associates specific values with each variable in a formal expression

Australian history a system (1789–1841) whereby a convict could become the unpaid servant of a freeman

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Definition of assign verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• assign something (to somebody) The teacher assigned a different task to each of the children.
• The two large classrooms have been assigned to us.
• assign somebody something We have been assigned the two large classrooms.
• The teacher assigned each of the children a different task.

Join our community to access the latest language learning and assessment tips from Oxford University Press!

• assign somebody (to something/as something) They've assigned their best man to the job.
• Two senior officers have been assigned to the case.
• assign somebody to do something British forces have been assigned to help with peacekeeping.
• be assigned to somebody/something I was assigned to B platoon.
• He was assigned to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1975.
• assign something to something Assign a different colour to each different type of information.
• assign something sth The painting cannot be assigned an exact date.
• The agreement assigns copyright to the publisher.
• She has assigned the lease to her daughter.

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Dogs can understand the meaning of nouns, new research finds

Study confirms our canine companions can grasp more than simple commands – or at least for items they care about

Dogs understand what certain words stand for, according to researchers who monitored the brain activity of willing pooches while they were shown balls, slippers, leashes and other highlights of the domestic canine world.

The finding suggests that the dog brain can reach beyond commands such as “sit” and “fetch”, and the frenzy-inducing “walkies”, to grasp the essence of nouns, or at least those that refer to items the animals care about.

“I think the capacity is there in all dogs,” said Marianna Boros, who helped arrange the experiments at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary. “This changes our understanding of language evolution and our sense of what is uniquely human.”

Scientists have long been fascinated by whether dogs can truly learn the meanings of words and have built up some evidence to back the suspicion. A survey in 2022 found that dog owners believed their furry companions responded to between 15 and 215 words.

More direct evidence for canine cognitive prowess came in 2011 when psychologists in South Carolina reported that after three years of intensive training, a border collie called Chaser had learned the names of more than 1,000 objects , including 800 cloth toys, 116 balls and 26 Frisbees.

However, studies have said little about what is happening in the canine brain when it processes words. To delve into the mystery, Boros and her colleagues invited 18 dog owners to bring their pets to the laboratory along with five objects the animals knew well. These included balls, slippers, Frisbees, rubber toys, leads and other items.

At the lab, the owners were instructed to say words for objects before showing their dog either the correct item or a different one. For example, an owner might say “Look, here’s the ball”, but hold up a Frisbee instead. The experiments were repeated multiple times with matching and non-matching objects.

During the tests, researchers monitored the dogs’ brain activity through non-invasive electroencephalography, or EEG. The traces revealed different patterns of activity when the objects matched or clashed with the words their owner said. The difference in the traces was more pronounced for words that owners believed their dogs knew best.

Similar blips in EEG recordings were seen when humans performed the tests and were interpreted as people understanding a word well enough to form a mental representation that was either confirmed or confounded by the object they were subsequently shown.

Writing in Current Biology , the scientists say the results “provide the first neural evidence for object word knowledge in a non-human animal”.

Boros emphasised she was not claiming dogs understood words as well as humans. It will take further work to understand, for example, whether dogs can generalise in the way humans learn to as infants, and grasp that the word “ball” need not refer to one specific, heavily chewed spongy sphere.

The study raises the question of why, if dogs understand certain nouns, more of them don’t show it. One possibility is that a dog knows what a word refers to but is not bothered about acting on it. “My dog only cares about his ball,” said Boros. “If I bring him another toy, he doesn’t care about it at all.”

Dr Holly Root-Gutteridge, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lincoln who was not involved in the study, called the work “fascinating”.

“It’s particularly interesting because I think it’s unlikely this started during domestication, so it may be widespread throughout mammals,” she said. “That’s highly exciting in itself as it shines new light on language evolution.

“It might be that the dogs don’t really care enough about the game of ‘fetch this particular thing’ to play along with the way we’ve been training and testing them so far. Your dog may understand what you’re saying but choose not to act.”

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Synonyms and antonyms of assignment in English

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peanut butter (= a soft food made from crushed peanuts) and jam (= a soft sweet food made from fruit and sugar), or a sandwich with these inside. PB&J is short for peanut butter and jelly.

Sitting on the fence (Newspaper idioms)

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