assignment
Americannoun
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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
-
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
-
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
-
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:
There's not a lot of downtime, and once you have completed one assignment, you are preparing for the next one.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
In a promising sign for closer Edwin Díaz’s recovery timeline, he started a rehab assignment with single-A Ontario on Saturday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
In a promising sign for Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz’s recovery timeline, he is scheduled to make a rehab assignment with single-A Ontario on Saturday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Aasem Khalil recalls walking into David Solomon’s office at Goldman Sachs’ Manhattan headquarters in 2016, excited about his next assignment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
“Miss Kemp already wrote this year’s assignment on the board,” I said, “and it isn’t a science project.”
From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson
There's only one drawback: "long separations from the family during assignments," he says from Kosovo, where he is helping install a wind farm.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
And now, after two and a half years of roaming the state between work assignments, they’re back to report that they’ve covered all 101 locations on that list.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Things like advance-seat assignments and, in the case of business class, admittance to those out-of-this-world Delta One lounges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
For certain assignments, she tells students they have to stick with the class material or their grade will suffer.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
Ms. Rubin dropped by the apartment one afternoon with all my locker stuff: my textbooks, my loose-leaf book, and all the assignments I would need to make up.
From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio
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.
