ascribe
Americanverb (used with object)
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ascribes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ascribed,
past participle, past
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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
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to credit or assign, as to a particular origin or period
to ascribe parts of a play to Shakespeare
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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
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ascribesimple
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ascribessimple
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have ascribedperfect
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has ascribedperfect
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am ascribingprogressive
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are ascribingprogressive
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is ascribingprogressive
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have been ascribingperfect progressive
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has been ascribingperfect progressive
Past
-
ascribedsimple
-
had ascribedperfect
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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
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"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards
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Jane Eyre
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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.
See Examples For:
Rhind said Monday’s stock action “isn’t just an earnings hangover” but a rerating of Microsoft’s progress with AI — meaning that the market is coming to ascribe a higher multiple to the shares.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
To ascribe to particular diets and exercise practices that micro-optimize your body is one thing; you may be putting yourself through trials the Jackass guys would never dare, but at least it’s your own body.
From Slate ● Jul. 31, 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
“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
Eurasia Group is one of the world’s leading geopolitical risk consultancies and it ascribes a two-thirds probability to the pause in hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz holding.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 20, 2026
Today, MS ascribes no value to Resolution in its base case for either company, Anand says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
Blackwell ascribes her extreme dog love to never having had a childhood pet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
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
The third and last theory we have to consider is that which ascribes the origin of cow-pox to infection from the horse.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
Liberty ascribed NV Energy’s decision to new “market circumstances” in the latter’s home service region.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
"I observed what appeared to be a fairly bright light source which we tentatively ascribed to a possible laser," he said.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
The company ascribed clear numbers to what management called “improving AI adoption,” highlighting three AI-linked business that had achieved over $1 billion in annual recurring revenue as of the end of the first quarter.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 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
Their vote therefore must be ascribed to ignorance of what passed during their long sleep.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
“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
“People are ascribing other things to it,” Miserando, said, when real estate ownership “might be the bigger factor than the angle of how strange it is” to see a company going from Texas to California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2024
But she cautions against people ascribing a disability to a character who is not disabled.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2023
I tell you what, Mose, this sure is somebody’s kind of truth, but I wouldn’t be ascribing it to God.”
From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe
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.
