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Synonyms

asset

American  
[as-et] / ˈæs ɛt /

noun

  1. a useful and desirable thing or quality.

    Organizational ability is an asset.

  2. a single item of ownership having exchange value.

    Our summer home is an asset we're not willing to sell.

  3. 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.

  4. (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.

  5. Military. a physical resource, such as a piece of equipment, vehicle, or building.

  6. assets. assets.

asset British  
/ ˈæsɛt /

noun

  1. anything valuable or useful See also assets

    experience is their main asset
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
asset Cultural  

  1. A possession that can be turned into cash to cover liabilities.

Discover More

Commonly, the term denotes anything of value.

Other Word Forms

  • assetless adjective

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”; assai 1

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.

The private BDCs allow investors to buy and sell shares at their net asset values.

From Barron's • Apr. 4, 2026

“Gold is the asset that held its value well enough to be worth liquidating,” Skoyles said in a YouTube video posted on April 2.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026

FS KKR shares have been hammered this year, falling about 25% to $10.50 a share and trading for a roughly 50% discount to the BDC’s year-end 2025 net asset value.

From Barron's • Apr. 4, 2026

‘Gold is the asset that held its value well enough to be worth liquidating. That is not a weakness in gold. That is the entire point of gold.’

From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026

Thus there was growing acceptance both in and outside Cambridge that Francis’ brain was a genuine asset.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

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.