asset
Americannoun
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a useful and desirable thing or quality.
Organizational ability is an asset.
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a single item of ownership having exchange value.
Our summer home is an asset we're not willing to sell.
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Digital Technology. one of the media components that, taken together, comprise all of the elements of a video game, such as the environments, objects, character art and animation, and sound design.
All of the game assets are downloaded to your hard drive during the install, so slow load times are local and indicate a problem with your drive.
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(in intelligence and information gathering) a person followed or spied upon to obtain information, who may be consenting, forced, or unaware of being used.
They threatened to release a catalog of virtually every CIA asset within the Soviet Union.
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Military. a physical resource, such as a piece of equipment, vehicle, or building.
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assets. see assets.
noun
Discover More
Commonly, the term denotes anything of value.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of asset
First recorded in 1525–35; back formation from assets, in phrase have assets, literally, “have enough (to pay obligations),” from Anglo-French, Old French asez “enough,” from unattested Vulgar Latin ad satis “to sufficiency”; see also assai 1
Explanation
An asset is something you have that is positive. It can mean a piece of property, a piece of equipment, an ability, or even a quality. "Her facility with math is an asset when it comes to figuring out the restaurant tab. She is an asset to the group." A person's overall financial picture is determined by lining up everything they own in the asset column, and everything they owe in the liability (or debit) column.
Vocabulary lists containing asset
Hatchet
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Trumps
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This Week in Words: March 30–April 5, 2019
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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.
As part of the deal, Murdoch’s company will own Vox Media’s podcast network, Vox.com and New York Magazine, once an asset of his father, industry giant Rupert Murdoch.
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026
TPUs have become a powerful asset for Alphabet, and the company has teased that it plans to do more with its custom chips.
From MarketWatch • May 19, 2026
The U-2 stopped flying missions over Russia as a result, but, we are told, its “utility as an intelligence platform continued to be an asset for the CIA and the U.S. military.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026
“This co-created data is a proprietary asset that drives a competitive edge for clients at a time when 93% of companies lack the right data for AI success,” Publicis said in the media release.
From Barron's • May 18, 2026
That is, even with this asset to borrow against, Americans were struggling more than ever to meet their obligations.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
