assignment

American  

[uh-sahyn-muhnt] / əˈsaɪn mənt /

noun

1. something assigned, as a particular task or duty.

   She completed the assignment and went on to other jobs.

   Synonyms:

   job, obligation

2. 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

3. an act of assigning; appointment.

4. Law.

   1. the transference of a right, interest, or title, or the instrument of transfer.

   2. a transference of property to assignees for the benefit of creditors.

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assignment British  

/ əˈsaɪnmənt /

noun

1. something that has been assigned, such as a mission or task

2. a position or post to which a person is assigned

3. the act of assigning or state of being assigned

4. law

   1. the transfer to another of a right, interest, or title to property, esp personal property

      assignment of a lease

   2. the document effecting such a transfer

   3. the right, interest, or property transferred

5. law (formerly) the transfer, esp by an insolvent debtor, of property in trust for the benefit of his creditors

6. logic a function that associates specific values with each variable in a formal expression

7. history a system (1789–1841) whereby a convict could become the unpaid servant of a freeman

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Related Words

See task.

Other Word Forms

• misassignment noun
• nonassignment noun
• reassignment noun

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.”

Example Sentences

She was his personal legal hit woman, and she took on the assignment with energy and enthusiasm.

From Salon • Apr. 9, 2026

Sale have at least kept their season alive by making the quarter-finals but they face a tough assignment in the last eight.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

Campbell and colleagues had some participants in a study use ChatGPT to complete a writing assignment, and had some forgo help from the tool.

From Slate • Apr. 4, 2026

After graduating, she expanded the assignment into a full review comparing deep-sea vents and impact-generated systems.

From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026

She’d forced him into a six-month-long joint research effort that far exceeded the scope of the two-page paper the homework assignment had called for.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

Related Words

• appointment
• chore
• drill
• duty
• homework
• job
• position
• post
• practice
• stint