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.
By the 15th century, she says, British judges were assigning fact-finding work to clerks who were called masters.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 6, 2022
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 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
