asset

[as-et]

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

/ ˈæsɛt /

noun

1. anything valuable or useful See also assets

   experience is their main asset

asset

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

Commonly, the term denotes anything of value.

Other Word Forms

• assetless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of asset¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of asset¹

C19: back formation from _assets

Example Sentences

Woodside said Williams, which handles roughly one third of natural gas volumes across the U.S., is paying some US$378 million for both assets.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Paramount has expressed a desire to acquire all of Warner Discovery, which owns assets including large movie and television studios as well as the HBO Max streaming service and cable channels including CNN and TNT.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

While markets will monitor the growth of assets under management at these funds and the amount of money they borrow, the banks aren’t extremely exposed today.

Read more on Barron's

While markets will monitor the growth of assets under management at these funds and the amount of money they borrow, the banks aren’t extremely exposed today.

Read more on Barron's

Mauritius has frozen the assets of the 56-year-old businessman, who is in hiding, and on October 16 issued a warrant for his arrest on money-laundering charges.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• aid 
• benefit 
• credit 
• resource 
• service