assessment

American  

[uh-ses-muhnt] / əˈsɛs mənt /

noun

assessments plural

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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• assessments
  plural

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

See Examples For:

assessment assessments

Cancian and Park, who have updated their April assessment, said in an interview Sunday that they now estimate that at least 1,500 Patriot interceptors have been expended since the war with Iran began.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

Neso described the report as a "forward-looking" assessment of risks that could become more significant in the 2030s unless addressed.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

In a 2018 assessment, more than 50% of DWP’s trunk line segments were more than 65 years old and 11% were more than 100 years old.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

That’s the assessment from Goldman Sachs analysts led by Ryan Hammond, who crunched the numbers based on last year’s earnings reports.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026

Smithy continued his assessment of the gunner’s brilliant plan.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri

A statistical analysis showed that having an adviser did not affect investors’ assessments of their investment strategies or their financial futures.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

The council said the situation was being "monitored daily", with "regular assessments of water conditions carried out in line with safety procedures".

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

Researchers again recorded brain activity with EEG during the trip and repeated the same psychological and imaging assessments over the weeks that followed.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026

They would phone Gannon and ask for his personal take on the assessments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

Both coaches continued to issue the customary gloomy assessments of their boys’ chances.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Related Words

• appraisal
• estimate
• judgment