assignment

American  

[uh-sahyn-muhnt] / əˈsaɪn mənt /

noun

• assignments
  plural

1. something assigned, as a particular task or duty.

   She completed the assignment and went on to other jobs.

   Synonyms:

   job, obligation

2. a position of responsibility, post of duty, or the like, to which one is appointed.

   He left for his assignment in the Middle East.

   Synonyms:

   job, obligation

3. an act of assigning; appointment.

4. Law.

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

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

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assignment British  

/ əˈsaɪnmənt /

noun

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

2. a position or post to which a person is assigned

3. the act of assigning or state of being assigned

4. law

   1. the transfer to another of a right, interest, or title to property, esp personal property

      assignment of a lease

   2. the document effecting such a transfer

   3. the right, interest, or property transferred

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

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

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

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Synonym Usage

See task.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misassignment
  noun
• nonassignment
  noun
• reassignment
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• assignments
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of assignment

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English assignament, from Medieval Latin assignāmentum. See assign, -ment

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Explanation

Whether you’re an international spy with a new mission or a high school student with math homework — when you get an assignment, you’d better do it! An assignment is a task that someone in authority has asked you to do. The word assignment is just the noun form of the common verb assign, which you use when you want to give someone a duty or a job. When you assign something, that something is called an assignment. The word can also refer to the act of distributing something. If you are distributing new office furniture at work, you might say, “Assignment of the new chairs will begin tomorrow.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

assignment assignments

Ms. Reid gets no help whatsoever from the cast, most of whom are simply not up to the assignment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Photographer Brian Anderson, who first met Ferris for a newspaper assignment in 2002, broke the news of his death on his Naked City Facebook page.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

AI chatbots have made large-scale cheating among students -- what some educators call "homework scams" -- easier than ever, allowing them to generate credible solutions to almost any written assignment within seconds.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

In one assignment to test students' ability to evaluate scientific arguments, Paustian, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison's bacteriology department, was suspicious that they might simply copy the instructions into a chatbot.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

School’s not really something that concerns her, and she definitely doesn’t care about this assignment.

From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller

An assistant might examine more documents, check its answers more thoroughly or complete longer assignments.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Empowering employees doesn’t mean handing over projects or assignments and letting them figure it all out on their own.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

But studies show AI text detectors are often unreliable, generating false positives that can erode trust between instructors and students and forcing teachers to devise innovative methods to detect cheating and evaluate assignments.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

Kelly’s temporary order specifically addressed the outlets’ White House “hard passes” and did not directly address Air Force One or pool assignments.

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026

I remember when I did my first few assignments as a brand-new national team member, I’d congratulate the other girls after their routines.

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles

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Related Words

• appointment
• chore
• drill
• duty
• homework
• job
• position
• post
• practice
• stint

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