assignment
Americannoun
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assignments
plural
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something assigned, as a particular task or duty.
She completed the assignment and went on to other jobs.
- Synonyms:
- job, obligation
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a position of responsibility, post of duty, or the like, to which one is appointed.
He left for his assignment in the Middle East.
- Synonyms:
- job, obligation
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an act of assigning; appointment.
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Law.
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the transference of a right, interest, or title, or the instrument of transfer.
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a transference of property to assignees for the benefit of creditors.
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noun
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something that has been assigned, such as a mission or task
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a position or post to which a person is assigned
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the act of assigning or state of being assigned
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law
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the transfer to another of a right, interest, or title to property, esp personal property
assignment of a lease
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the document effecting such a transfer
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the right, interest, or property transferred
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law (formerly) the transfer, esp by an insolvent debtor, of property in trust for the benefit of his creditors
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logic a function that associates specific values with each variable in a formal expression
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history a system (1789–1841) whereby a convict could become the unpaid servant of a freeman
Synonym Usage
See task.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of assignment
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English assignament, from Medieval Latin assignāmentum. See assign, -ment
Explanation
Whether you’re an international spy with a new mission or a high school student with math homework — when you get an assignment, you’d better do it! An assignment is a task that someone in authority has asked you to do. The word assignment is just the noun form of the common verb assign, which you use when you want to give someone a duty or a job. When you assign something, that something is called an assignment. The word can also refer to the act of distributing something. If you are distributing new office furniture at work, you might say, “Assignment of the new chairs will begin tomorrow.”
Vocabulary lists containing assignment
The Dawes Act
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Education and Academics, List 2
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"Two Left Feet, Two Left Hands, and Too Left on the Bench"
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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.
See Examples For:
Photographer Brian Anderson, who first met Ferris for a newspaper assignment in 2002, broke the news of his death on his Naked City Facebook page.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Díaz began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City in early September.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
AI chatbots have made large-scale cheating among students -- what some educators call "homework scams" -- easier than ever, allowing them to generate credible solutions to almost any written assignment within seconds.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
But AI assistance is only the beginning of the assignment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
I met up with a comrade called Hawk last week, and he gave me my assignment.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
"I have pretty much thrown in the towel on classic writing assignments for lower-level classes," Paustian told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
Kelly’s temporary order specifically addressed the outlets’ White House “hard passes” and did not directly address Air Force One or pool assignments.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
According to Reuters, some of the data contains details about officials' job assignments, including sensitive work against Chinese spies, Russian intelligence and drug cartels.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Other parents’ choices didn’t cause Najya’s teachers to leave assignments uncorrected, lower expectations, or award A’s for below-grade work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
One afternoon in February 2014, Adria and I came into the gym and Aimee didn’t give us any workout assignments.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
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.
