ascribe
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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
Related Words
See attribute.
Other Word Forms
- ascribable adjective
- unascribed adjective
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
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.
His embrace of the soon-to-be mayor can most likely be ascribed to a sensible desire to get off on the right foot with the boss of America’s largest city.
Lambert was an assistant on Barry Trotz’s staff when the Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018 and succeeded him as coach of the Islanders but ascribed no special meaning to this return.
From Washington Times
However, that figure includes deaths which occurred in medical settings, so cannot all be ascribed to misuse.
From BBC
Several senior staff members also reacted with another whistleblower complaint ascribing blame to both the board and the chief executive.
From Los Angeles Times
But underdiagnosis also stems from older patients’ reluctance to ascribe their problems to psychological issues.
From New York Times
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.
