asset

[as-et]

noun

1. a useful and desirable thing or quality.

   Organizational ability is an asset.

2. a single item of ownership having exchange value.

   Our summer home is an asset we're not willing to sell.

3. Digital Technology.,  one of the media components that, taken together, comprise all of the elements of a video game, such as the environments, objects, character art and animation, and sound design.

   All of the game assets are downloaded to your hard drive during the install, so slow load times are local and indicate a problem with your drive.

4. (in intelligence and information gathering) a person followed or spied upon to obtain information, who may be consenting, forced, or unaware of being used.

   They threatened to release a catalog of virtually every CIA asset within the Soviet Union.

5. Military.,  a physical resource, such as a piece of equipment, vehicle, or building.

6. assets. assets.

asset

/ ˈæsɛt /

noun

1. anything valuable or useful See also assets

   experience is their main asset

asset

1. A possession that can be turned into cash to cover liabilities.

Commonly, the term denotes anything of value.

Other Word Forms

• assetless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of asset¹

First recorded in 1525–35; back formation from assets, in phrase have assets, literally, “have enough (to pay obligations),” from Anglo-French, Old French asez “enough,” from unattested Vulgar Latin ad satis “to sufficiency”; assai ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of asset¹

C19: back formation from _assets

Example Sentences

At the same time, Warner Discovery continues to move forward with plans to separate its assets into two companies: one to house its studios and streaming business and the other comprising its cable networks.

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White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said that the president “is well within his lawful authority to deploy the National Guard in Washington D.C. to protect federal assets and assist law enforcement with specific tasks.”

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If your portfolio mix isn’t where it should be, consider selling some winners and using the proceeds to buy assets that haven’t done as well or posted losses.

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As private-credit assets balloon and grow increasingly entwined with the banking system, a Federal Reserve official is calling for a closer examination of the funds that make the private-credit industry run.

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“The cost of that insurance comes in the form of potential tolerance for inflation and stoking potential asset price bubbles.”

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Related Words

• aid 
• benefit 
• credit 
• resource 
• service