noun
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the act of assessing, esp (in Britain) the evaluation of a student's achievement on a course
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an amount determined as payable
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a valuation set on taxable property, income, etc
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evaluation; estimation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of assessment
Explanation
Assessment is a word you hear a lot around schools — an assessment is an evaluation, and one type of assessment is used to measure what someone knows or has learned. Tests and term papers can be assessment tools. More than just students are given assessments. You might bring your dad's plastic gnome collection to an expert for an assessment and find out it's worth all of $15.35. You might make a quick assessment of a sticky situation — say it's you, a tasty ham sandwich, and your hungry dog— and decide to run.
Vocabulary lists containing assessment
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 1
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Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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This Week in Words: January 12 - 18, 2019
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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.
Their findings were published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, a journal of the Alzheimer's Association.
From Science Daily • Jun. 9, 2026
Only 18% of Los Angeles eighth-graders scored proficient in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, compared to 27% nationwide.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
The intelligence community "assesses that Chinese leaders do not currently plan to execute an invasion of Taiwan in 2027, nor do they have a fixed timeline for achieving unification," said its Annual Threat Assessment report.
From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026
In a letter to Phillipson last year, the EHRC's then-chairwoman, Baroness Falkner, said the watchdog had provided additional information requested by the government, including an Equality Impact Assessment, on 13 October.
From BBC • Jan. 7, 2026
I didn’t want to hear about Operational Net Assessment.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
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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.