ascribe
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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
-
to credit or assign, as to a particular origin or period
to ascribe parts of a play to Shakespeare
-
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
Related Words
See attribute.
Other Word Forms
- ascribable adjective
- unascribed adjective
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
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.
His embrace of the soon-to-be mayor can most likely be ascribed to a sensible desire to get off on the right foot with the boss of America’s largest city.
Thus far, investors haven’t ascribed much value to the business—or, if anything, negative value.
From Barron's
While the US publicly acknowledges Israel's right to respond to attacks that it ascribes to Hamas, in private US officials have been urging restraint in order to keep this deal alive.
From BBC
How much meaning can we ascribe to an encore?
When she died of the plague a few years later, they felt vindicated; one particularly judgy saint ascribed it to her use of a “certain golden instrument.”
From Los Angeles Times
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.
