assessment

American  

[uh-ses-muhnt] / əˈsɛs mənt /

noun

assessments plural

1. the act of assessing; appraisal; evaluation.

2. an official valuation of property for the purpose of levying a tax; an assigned value.

3. an amount assessed as payable.

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assessment British  

/ əˈsɛsmənt /

noun

1. the act of assessing, esp (in Britain) the evaluation of a student's achievement on a course

2. an amount determined as payable

3. a valuation set on taxable property, income, etc

4. evaluation; estimation

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assessment Cultural  

1. The appraisal of property for the purposes of taxation.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misassessment
  noun
• overassessment
  noun
• reassessment
  noun
• self-assessment
  noun
• proassessment
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• assessments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of assessment

First recorded in 1530–40; assess + -ment

Explanation

Assessment is a word you hear a lot around schools — an assessment is an evaluation, and one type of assessment is used to measure what someone knows or has learned. Tests and term papers can be assessment tools. More than just students are given assessments. You might bring your dad's plastic gnome collection to an expert for an assessment and find out it's worth all of $15.35. You might make a quick assessment of a sticky situation — say it's you, a tasty ham sandwich, and your hungry dog— and decide to run.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

assessment assessments

"We all know -- and this is not our assessment, we have heard it directly from Turkish officials -- that they are interested in seeing positive developments in EU-Turkey relations."

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

It’s a wistful, country-folk paean that offers both a wry yet realistic assessment of the disposition of collections someone leaves the planet.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026

The council said it had arranged the independent beach risk assessment, which had advised improving signs about water safety.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

Cancian and Park, who have updated their April assessment, said in an interview Sunday that they now estimate that at least 1,500 Patriot interceptors have been expended since the war with Iran began.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

Ms. Washington turning out to be nothing like I expected had temporarily disrupted my assessment of the enemy and my plan, but not for long.

From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan

A statistical analysis showed that having an adviser did not affect investors’ assessments of their investment strategies or their financial futures.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

Brands and companies like Duel and Kale say they use technology and human assessments to make sure members of brand advocacy programs tag their content to convey its promotional nature.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

These assessments included responses to statements such as, "I've been feeling optimistic about the future" and "I've been dealing with problems well."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026

Their findings will be used to update England Red List assessments and guidance for anglers to improve survival rates of sharks they release.

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026

We generated background studies, psychological assessments, daily chronologies, myriad facts and extrapolations.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

Related Words

• appraisal
• estimate
• judgment