ascribe
Americanverb (used with object)
-
ascribes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ascribed,
past participle, past
-
ascribing
present participle
-
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
Synonym Usage
See attribute.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ascribesimple
-
ascribessimple
-
have ascribedperfect
-
has ascribedperfect
-
am ascribingprogressive
-
are ascribingprogressive
-
is ascribingprogressive
-
have been ascribingperfect progressive
-
has been ascribingperfect progressive
Past
-
ascribedsimple
-
had ascribedperfect
-
was ascribingprogressive
-
were ascribingprogressive
-
had been ascribingperfect progressive
Future
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
Explanation
Ascribe means to give credit to, like if you ascribe the A you got on your group project to the hard work of your partners! Ascribe's Latin root is ascribere, meaning basically "to write in.'' Makes sense, because ascribe is often used to link writers to their words. Many a quirky quote, like "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter," is ascribed to that famous scribe Mark Twain. It can also be a way of blaming something — you might ascribe your bad attitude to your mom because she won't let you have cupcakes for dinner.
Vocabulary lists containing ascribe
The Write Stuff: Scrib, Script
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Jane Eyre
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
And most people contend that plagiarism, cheating and ghostwriting are all cut from the same cloth because they all lack the spark that we ascribe to truly original thinking and writing.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
They caution against accepting narratives that ascribe human traits to nonhuman things and suggest this incident was merely a case of poor security practices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Nowadays, the group can hardly exert control of areas within Yemen itself, and again, the intelligence community in 2025 and 2026 can only ascribe “intent” to the group and not actual attacks.
From Slate ● Apr. 21, 2026
“We ascribe to them too much competence. I do not consider what’s happening now to be the result of great strategic thinking.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
To ascribe it to such a motive would be easy enough.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Papic ascribes a 60% probability to the conflict ending in approximately two weeks.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 16, 2026
As he spoke, Cenni removed his sock to reveal a large portion of his foot missing, an injury he ascribes to the kitchen attack.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
Lu ascribes the game’s longevity to none other than community.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2025
What is important is that he is able to convince fanatic followers of the sacred mission he ascribes to himself as well as to them.
From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2023
Another ascribes the fear and imagination much to the biblical story of the whale and Jonah.
From Religious Folk-Songs of the Southern Negroes by Howard W. Odum
It’s worth noting that Apple recently raised prices on many products, but the company ascribed those increases to higher costs for memory chips, driven up by intense demand from AI firms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
When StepStone adds the investment to its own portfolio, however, it typically values it at the higher price ascribed to the investment by the fund where it came from.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
Hamilton has ascribed his improvement in form after a difficult 2025 to "a change of attitude".
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
Some investors ascribed Monday’s rally mostly to relief that the weekend was relatively light on bad news.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 16, 2026
He was mystery to the boys, and his word, his law, was carried down by Lee, who naturally made it up himself and ascribed it to Adam.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
At the current $159 price tag, Jonas believes the market values SpaceX’s Starlink and rocket-launch business at $127 per share, ascribing just $32 of value to the company’s enterprise and consumer AI business.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
“But tonight, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett made it great again by ascribing to me an incident involving Ilya Shapiro.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
Wall Street is essentially ascribing the majority of future GLP-1/obesity market share to a duopoly—Lilly and Novo, notwithstanding competition.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2025
Things feel different now, and without ascribing too much power to Taylor Swift, I actually think she has something to do with it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2024
When it came to my choices, I tried to be somewhat unpredictable, to prevent anyone from ascribing any sort of message to what I wore.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
