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:
We do not ascribe likelihoods to either scenario.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
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
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
And while a cursory examination of the film might ascribe that attribute to the public’s taste for poorly made, mid-tier trash, that conclusion would be wholly incorrect.
From Salon ● Jan. 31, 2026
Life is just a series of dumb decisions and indecisions and coincidences that we choose to ascribe meaning to.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
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
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
He ascribes Poland's rapid military build-up to "first of all, the geopolitical situation, but also, the experience of history."
From BBC ● May 2, 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
For the worst of Rochefort's colleagues have never been accused of any profligacies and basenesses so bad as those which universal public opinion ascribes to the leading Bonapartes and some of their most influential supporters.
From Modern Leaders: Being a Series of Biographical Sketches by Justin McCarthy
That’s how Wagner found Daniel Paul, an architectural historian who researched and documented the 38-foot-tall cupola-style structure built in 1960 by Van Tassel, who ascribed it miraculous powers including antigravity, rejuvenation and time travel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 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
Hamilton has ascribed his improvement in form after a difficult 2025 to "a change of attitude".
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
The capital influx would be a major catalyst for Oracle, as the market seems to have ascribed “negative value” to the OpenAI relationship, Luria noted.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 9, 2026
I tilt my head, feeling a calm that cannot be ascribed to the situation.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
"To assign a political meaning to that collaboration means ascribing to me beliefs which I have never expressed and that do not belong to me," Pirlo wrote.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 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
But by the 1980s, much chimp behavior was being interpreted in ways that would have been labeled anthropomorphism — ascribing human traits to non-human entities — decades earlier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 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
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.
