assign
verb (used with object)
to give or allocate; allot.
were assigning
-
past progressiveof assign.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Schools were closed, and teachers couldn’t get to the books they were assigning, so they offered PDFs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2020
Having initially rejected the labels others were assigning to her, she started to fear that they were right.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 28, 2019
That the piece suggested that leaders in the Kremlin were assigning a much higher probability to regime change than we were.
From Washington Post ● May 11, 2018
That means we were assigning very different definitions to that broad term “pain.”
From New York Times ● May 16, 2011
Dedd realizes she is speaking to the picture of Minerva, as if she were assigning her a part, pinning her down with a handful of adjectives, the beautiful, intelligent, high-minded Minerva.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
