assignation
Americannoun
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an appointment for a meeting, especially a lover's secret rendezvous.
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the act of assigning; assignment.
noun
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a secret or forbidden arrangement to meet, esp one between lovers
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the act of assigning; assignment
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law another word for assignment
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of assignation
1400–50; late Middle English assignacioun < Latin assignātiōn- (stem of assignātiō ). See assign, -ation
Explanation
An assignation is a secret meeting. You might have an assignation with your new girlfriend if the two of you were keeping your relationship private. Any kind of clandestine meeting can be called an assignation, but it most often describes a romantic tryst. Every encounter between the two main characters in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is an assignation, since their families don't approve of their relationship. The word assignation meant "appointment by authority" in the 14th century, from the Latin assignationem, "an assigning or allotment," with the "meeting by arrangement" meaning arising in the late 17th century.
Vocabulary lists containing assignation
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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.
She suffer’d herself to be over-persuaded, and made an Assignation to meet him at a certain Place, as soon as the Star Algenib should make its Appearance.
From Zadig Or, The Book of Fate by Voltaire
In "The Assignation" he says of the Marchesa Aphrodite, "Her hair … clustered round and round her classical head, in curls like those of the young hyacinth."
From Selections from Poe by Gambrill, J. Montgomery
But, though guiltless in this respect, the "Assignation" had worse faults.
From The Dramatic Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 With a Life of the Author by Saintsbury, George
Dryden attacked one of his plays, The Citizen turned Gentleman, an imitation of Molière's Bourgeois-Gentilhomme, in the Prologue to The Assignation.
From The Love-Tiff by Molière
Falstaff's Assignation with Mrs. Ford—from the Merry Wives of Windsor—is remarkably delicate in the execution, possesses good colouring, and is altogether creditable to the painter, Mr. Clint.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 17, No. 478, February 26, 1831 by Various
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.
