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

The North Koreans were receiving practical training at the plant, according to the posts, in which a production-line operator offered an assessment: “Our Korean colleagues are very disciplined, responsible and hardworking.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

For instance, 8.5% of buildings constructed before 2000 had a special assessment, with the typical owner footing a bill of nearly $2,500 per unit.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

They're not mentioned anywhere in the latest update from the IOC and World Rowing and they weren't considered in the technical assessment.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

One U.S. official told The Times that the blunt assessment accurately reflects private thinking inside Xi’s government about the growing risks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

Shanti had flinched slightly at Mrs. Mirabov’s assessment, as if she’d told Shanti that her personality made her look fat.

From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray

His homeowners association fees have been creeping up to nearly $470 per month, and that’s on top of expenses stemming from special assessments he’s had to cough up.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

“AI can handle the risk assessments and recommendations in the reports; we only need to provide the source material,” one staffer wrote in an internal chat in early 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

But those assessments reflect how things stand today.

From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026

He will stay at the hospital until he is deemed fit to be released back to society, and would likely be subject to yearly assessments.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

For years, he’s been the subject of a patchwork of commentaries, numerous judgments, and endless character assessments from a spectrum of self-appointed experts.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

Related Words

• appraisal
• estimate
• judgment