assessment

American  

[uh-ses-muhnt] / əˈsɛs mənt /

noun

1. the act of assessing; appraisal; evaluation.

2. an official valuation of property for the purpose of levying a tax; an assigned value.

3. an amount assessed as payable.

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assessment British  

/ əˈsɛsmənt /

noun

1. the act of assessing, esp (in Britain) the evaluation of a student's achievement on a course

2. an amount determined as payable

3. a valuation set on taxable property, income, etc

4. evaluation; estimation

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assessment Cultural  

1. The appraisal of property for the purposes of taxation.

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Other Word Forms

• misassessment noun
• overassessment noun
• proassessment adjective
• reassessment noun
• self-assessment noun

Etymology

Origin of assessment

First recorded in 1530–40; assess + -ment

Explanation

Assessment is a word you hear a lot around schools — an assessment is an evaluation, and one type of assessment is used to measure what someone knows or has learned. Tests and term papers can be assessment tools. More than just students are given assessments. You might bring your dad's plastic gnome collection to an expert for an assessment and find out it's worth all of $15.35. You might make a quick assessment of a sticky situation — say it's you, a tasty ham sandwich, and your hungry dog— and decide to run.

Example Sentences

That seems like an overly optimistic assessment of its prospects.

From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026

Typically, property owners use C-PACE financing to pay for energy-related upgrades through a tax assessment tied to the real estate itself, creating a long-duration, senior-secured instrument.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

The authors looked at multiyear health data for nearly 2,100 people—every patient in Finland under age 23 referred for gender-related assessment or treatment between 1996 and 2019.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

Iran does not have nuclear weapons, and the UK government has said there is "no assessment" that Iran was trying to target Europe with missiles.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

Jamie’s assessment made total sense considering my experiences with this were recent and only happened at competitions.

From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad

Related Words

• appraisal
• estimate
• judgment