appointment

[uh-point-muhnt]

noun

1. a fixed mutual agreement for a meeting; engagement.

   We made an appointment to meet again.

   Synonyms: date, tryst, rendezvous, assignation

2. a meeting set for a specific time or place.

   I'm late for my appointment.

   Synonyms: date, tryst, rendezvous, assignation

3. the act of appointing, designating, or placing in office.

   to fill a vacancy by appointment.

4. an office, position, or the like, to which a person is appointed.

   He received his appointment as ambassador to Italy.

5. Usually appointments. equipment, furnishings, or accouterments.

6. appointments, accouterments for a soldier or a horse.

7. Manège.,  a horse-show class in which the contestant need not be a member of a hunt but must wear regulation hunt livery.

8. Archaic.,  decree; ordinance.

appointment

/ əˈpɔɪntmənt /

noun

1. an arrangement to meet a person or be at a place at a certain time

2. the act of placing in a job or position

3. the person who receives such a job or position

4. the job or position to which such a person is appointed

5. (usually plural) a fixture or fitting

6. property law nomination to an interest in property under a deed or will

Other Word Forms

• proappointment adjective
• reappointment noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of appointment¹

1375–1425; late Middle English apoynt ( e ) ment < Middle French ap ( p ) ointement. See appoint, -ment

Idioms and Phrases

see make an appointment.

Synonym Study

Appointment, office, post, station all refer to kinds of duty or employment. Appointment refers to a position to which one is assigned, as by a high government official. Office often suggests a position of trust or authority. Post is usually restricted to a military or other public position, as of a diplomat, although it may also refer to a teaching position. Both post and station may refer to the place where a person is assigned to work.

Example Sentences

After a difficult doctor’s appointment with her mother recently, Thompson says she felt her whole body tensing up.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In response the government launched an urgent review into the use and cost of taxis to transfer asylum seekers from their hotels to appointments in September.

Read more on BBC

The CDC didn’t announce his appointment, but an internal database lists him as the agency’s principal deputy director, with a start date of Nov. 23.

Read more on Salon

We are taking appointments now and are very excited.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Rev Cheshire has to attend frequent medical appointments with Adam, who is autistic, including for his profound learning difficulties, as well as hearing and sight impairments.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• approval 
• certification 
• choice 
• designation 
• election 
• nomination 
• selection