ascribe
Americanverb (used with object)
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ascribes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ascribed,
past participle, past
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ascribing
present participle
-
to credit or assign, as to a cause or source; attribute; impute.
The alphabet is usually ascribed to the Phoenicians.
-
to attribute or think of as belonging, as a quality or characteristic.
They ascribed courage to me for something I did out of sheer panic.
verb
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to credit or assign, as to a particular origin or period
to ascribe parts of a play to Shakespeare
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to attribute as a quality; consider as belonging to
to ascribe beauty to youth
Usage
Ascribe is sometimes wrongly used where subscribe is meant: I do not subscribe (not ascribe ) to this view
Synonym Usage
See attribute.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ascribesimple
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ascribessimple
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have ascribedperfect
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has ascribedperfect
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am ascribingprogressive
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are ascribingprogressive
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is ascribingprogressive
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have been ascribingperfect progressive
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has been ascribingperfect progressive
Past
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ascribedsimple
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had ascribedperfect
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was ascribingprogressive
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were ascribingprogressive
-
had been ascribingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ascribe
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin ascrībere, equivalent to a- a- 5 + scrībere to scribe 2; replacing Middle English ascrive < Middle French. See shrive
Explanation
Ascribe means to give credit to, like if you ascribe the A you got on your group project to the hard work of your partners! Ascribe's Latin root is ascribere, meaning basically "to write in.'' Makes sense, because ascribe is often used to link writers to their words. Many a quirky quote, like "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter," is ascribed to that famous scribe Mark Twain. It can also be a way of blaming something — you might ascribe your bad attitude to your mom because she won't let you have cupcakes for dinner.
Vocabulary lists containing ascribe
The Write Stuff: Scrib, Script
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"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards
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Jane Eyre
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And most people contend that plagiarism, cheating and ghostwriting are all cut from the same cloth because they all lack the spark that we ascribe to truly original thinking and writing.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
To ascribe to particular diets and exercise practices that micro-optimize your body is one thing; you may be putting yourself through trials the Jackass guys would never dare, but at least it’s your own body.
From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2026
They caution against accepting narratives that ascribe human traits to nonhuman things and suggest this incident was merely a case of poor security practices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Analysts ascribe that partly to higher inflation and larger federal budget deficits but also to hopes for stronger economic growth—driven by private-sector investment in areas such as AI infrastructure and renewable energy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 7, 2025
“Nonsense. You cannot ascribe emotions to a dybbuk.”
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Eurasia Group is one of the world’s leading geopolitical risk consultancies and it ascribes a two-thirds probability to the pause in hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz holding.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 20, 2026
As he spoke, Cenni removed his sock to reveal a large portion of his foot missing, an injury he ascribes to the kitchen attack.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
He ascribes Poland's rapid military build-up to "first of all, the geopolitical situation, but also, the experience of history."
From BBC ● May 2, 2025
Blackwell ascribes her extreme dog love to never having had a childhood pet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
One of Rochambeau's staff-officers ascribes his death to chagrin in consequence of having permitted five English ships to escape him without a general engagement.
From Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast by Samuel Adams Drake
Her presence, too, is felt in the people who now inhabit the space, like her granddaughter Charley, 25, whose easy warmth recalls qualities long ascribed to the matriarch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
The company ascribed clear numbers to what management called “improving AI adoption,” highlighting three AI-linked business that had achieved over $1 billion in annual recurring revenue as of the end of the first quarter.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
The plaintive observation, ascribed to the early Victorian British Prime Minister Viscount Melbourne about the acerbically self-confident historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, remains the motto of the thoughtfully skeptical man through the ages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
Hamilton has ascribed his improvement in form after a difficult 2025 to "a change of attitude".
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
Their vote therefore must be ascribed to ignorance of what passed during their long sleep.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
“But tonight, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett made it great again by ascribing to me an incident involving Ilya Shapiro.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
Wall Street is essentially ascribing the majority of future GLP-1/obesity market share to a duopoly—Lilly and Novo, notwithstanding competition.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2025
A recent survey of 300 people found that 67% of responders believes AI is conscious, interacting with it politely and ascribing human-like traits.
From Salon ● May 17, 2025
As to what Downey is ascribing to his native land, Murphy can do nothing but laugh.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
I tell you what, Mose, this sure is somebody’s kind of truth, but I wouldn’t be ascribing it to God.”
From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
