what does assignment mean in english

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Meaning of assignment in English

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• It was a jammy assignment - more of a holiday really.
• He took this award-winning photograph while on assignment in the Middle East .
• His two-year assignment to the Mexico office starts in September .
• She first visited Norway on assignment for the winter Olympics ten years ago.
• He fell in love with the area after being there on assignment for National Geographic in the 1950s.
• act as something
• all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy) idiom
• be at work idiom
• be in work idiom
• housekeeping
• in the line of duty idiom

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

assignment | American Dictionary

Assignment | business english, examples of assignment, collocations with assignment.

These are words often used in combination with assignment .

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Translations of assignment

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Word of the Day

(of an aircraft) to move slowly on the ground

Tucking in and pigging out (Eating phrasal verbs)

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• American    Noun
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Definition of 'assignment'

Video: pronunciation of assignment

assignment in British English

Assignment in american english, examples of 'assignment' in a sentence assignment, cobuild collocations assignment, trends of assignment.

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Browse alphabetically assignment

• assigned randomly
• assigned risk
• assimilability
• assimilable
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'A'

Related terms of assignment

• seat assignment
• tough assignment
• writing assignment
• challenging assignment
• difficult assignment
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Definition of assignment

task , duty , job , chore , stint , assignment mean a piece of work to be done.

task implies work imposed by a person in authority or an employer or by circumstance.

duty implies an obligation to perform or responsibility for performance.

job applies to a piece of work voluntarily performed; it may sometimes suggest difficulty or importance.

chore implies a minor routine activity necessary for maintaining a household or farm.

stint implies a carefully allotted or measured quantity of assigned work or service.

assignment implies a definite limited task assigned by one in authority.

Examples of assignment in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'assignment.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

see assign entry 1

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing assignment

• self - assignment

Dictionary Entries Near assignment

Cite this entry.

“Assignment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assignment. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.

Legal Definition

Legal definition of assignment, more from merriam-webster on assignment.

Nglish: Translation of assignment for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of assignment for Arabic Speakers

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something assigned, as a particular task or duty: She completed the assignment and went on to other jobs.

a position of responsibility, post of duty, or the like, to which one is appointed: He left for his assignment in the Middle East.

an act of assigning; appointment.

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

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

Origin of assignment

Synonym study for assignment, other words for assignment, other words from assignment.

• mis·as·sign·ment, noun
• non·as·sign·ment, noun
• re·as·sign·ment, noun

Words that may be confused with assignment

• assignment , assignation

Words Nearby assignment

• assignation
• assigned counsel
• assigned risk
• assigned sex
• assimilable
• assimilation
• assimilationism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use assignment in a sentence

Yariel Valdés González and I faced these challenges while on assignment in South Florida and the Deep South from July 21-Aug.

They’re putting time into decoration just as they would in their physical classroom, and students can interact with the space by, say, clicking on a bookshelf to get a reading assignment .

For now, if the district moves to in-person learning, instruction in Carlsbad will take place on campus five days per week and students may engage in additional independent practices and other assignments at home.

The assignments must also respect the relationships between the elements in the group.

It’s very hard, by the way, to do real random assignment studies of couples therapy.

His most recent assignment was the 84th Precinct, at the Brooklyn end of the Brooklyn Bridge.

When Lewis was shipped off to Vietnam, his son was just three months old, and the timing of the assignment worried Lewis.

When Vial got that first assignment , she was just beginning her photography career, and Cirque du Soleil was only a few years old.

“For our winter issue, we gave ourselves one assignment : Break The Internet,” wrote Paper.

By the 1950s the rapid assignment of gender to an ambiguously gendered infant had become standard.

Consent to an assignment may be given by the president of the company, without formal vote by the directors.

A transfer by the lessee of the whole or a part of his interest for a part of the time is a sublease and not an assignment .

An assignment to one who has an insurable interest as relative, creditor and the like, is always valid.

When an assignment of it is made, the assignee may sue in his own name for rent accruing after the assignment .

In some states statutes forbid the assignment of such policies for the benefit of creditors.

British Dictionary definitions for assignment

/ ( əˈsaɪnmənt ) /

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

a position or post to which a person is assigned

the act of assigning or state of being assigned

the transfer to another of a right, interest, or title to property, esp personal property : assignment of a lease

the document effecting such a transfer

the right, interest, or property transferred

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

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

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

What is the meaning of "assignment"?

Word origin.

• as sick as a dog
• as sick as a parrot
• assiduously
• assiduousness
• assignation
• as silent as the grave
• as silly as a two-bob watch
• assimilable
• assimilation
• assimilationist
• assimilative
• assimilator
• assimilatory

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Definition of assignment noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• Students are required to complete all homework assignments.
• You will need to complete three written assignments per semester.
• a business/special assignment
• I had set myself a tough assignment.
• on an assignment She is in Greece on an assignment for one of the Sunday newspapers.
• on assignment one of our reporters on assignment in China
• The students handed in their assignments.
• The teacher gave us an assignment on pollution.
• Why did you take on this assignment if you're so busy?
• He refused to accept the assignment.
• assignment on

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Find out which words work together and produce more natural-sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

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Pronunciation (US):    (GB): 

Ipa (us): .

  Dictionary entry overview: What does assignment mean?  

• ASSIGNMENT (noun)   The noun ASSIGNMENT has 6 senses:

  Familiarity information: ASSIGNMENT used as a noun is common.

  Dictionary entry details  

• ASSIGNMENT (noun)

Sense 1

A duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

assignment; duty assignment

Context example:

hazardous duty

Hypernyms ("assignment" is a kind of...):

duty (work that you are obliged to perform for moral or legal reasons)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assignment"):

guard ; guard duty ; sentry duty ; sentry go (the duty of serving as a sentry)

fatigue ; fatigue duty (labor of a nonmilitary kind done by soldiers (cleaning or digging or draining or so on))

charge ; commission ; mission (a special assignment that is given to a person or group)

reassignment (assignment to a different duty)

sea-duty ; service abroad ; shipboard duty (naval service aboard a ship at sea)

shore duty (naval service at land bases)

Derivation:

assign (give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person))

Sense 2

The instrument by which a claim or right or interest or property is transferred from one person to another

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

instrument ; legal document ; legal instrument ; official document ((law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right)

Domain category:

jurisprudence ; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

assign (transfer one's right to)

Sense 3

The act of distributing something to designated places or persons

assigning ; assignment

the first task is the assignment of an address to each datum

distribution (the act of distributing or spreading or apportioning)

allocation ; storage allocation ((computer science) the assignment of particular areas of a magnetic disk to particular data or instructions)

assign (decide as to where something belongs in a scheme)

Sense 4

(law) a transfer of property by deed of conveyance

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

assignment; grant

transferred possession ; transferred property (a possession whose ownership changes or lapses)

apanage ; appanage (a grant (by a sovereign or a legislative body) of resources to maintain a dependent member of a ruling family)

land grant (a grant of public land (as to a railway or college))

Sense 5

An undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor)

labor ; project ; task ; undertaking (any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted)

school assignment ; schoolwork (a school task performed by a student to satisfy the teacher)

writing assignment ; written assignment (an assignment to write something)

assign (select something or someone for a specific purpose)

Sense 6

The act of putting a person into a non-elective position

appointment ; assignment; designation ; naming

the appointment had to be approved by the whole committee

conclusion ; decision ; determination (the act of making up your mind about something)

nomination (the act of officially naming a candidate)

co-optation ; co-option (the act of appointing summarily (with or without the appointee's consent))

delegacy (the appointment of a delegate)

ordinance ; ordination (the act of ordaining; the act of conferring (or receiving) holy orders)

recognition (designation by the chair granting a person the right to speak in a deliberative body)

  Context examples  

Again, more assignments are likely to zing through your window and you will find it thrilling when they do, because guess what—more money will be on the way to you.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Named or selected to an assignment .

(Designated, NCI Thesaurus)

Assignment of NSC numbers was never done in a way that would guarantee one and only one NSC number would be assigned to a particular substance.

(NSC Number, NCI Thesaurus)

A type of study that stipulates both the health provider and the subject be aware of the drug or treatment assignment .

(Open label study, NCI Thesaurus)

Position or arrangement, as of the teeth; the state of being placed or arranged, as the assignment of a person to a appropriate clinical study.

(Placement, NCI Thesaurus)

The assignment of the intervention may or may not be random.

(Interventional Study, NCI Thesaurus)

The assignments are result of human logic application and are not native to the symbols of the formal language.

(Interpretation, NCI Thesaurus)

An indication that the subject has been unable to fulfill the criteria required for assignment into a randomized group.

(Failure to Meet Randomization Criteria, NCI Thesaurus)

This may include special class placement, extra help with class assignments and tests, tutoring, and other services such as counseling, speech therapy, and physical therapy.

(IEP, NCI Dictionary)

The entity that oversees global IP address allocation, root zone management for the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Internet protocol assignments .

(Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, NCI Thesaurus)

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as·sign·ment

As•sign•ment.

An assignment is a task that someone is given to do, usually as part of their job.

An assignment is also a piece of academic work given to students.

In American English, an assignment is also a piece of work given to students to do at home.

Work given to schoolchildren to do at home is also called homework .

Be Careful! Homework is an uncountable noun. You do not talk about 'homeworks' or 'a homework'. Note that you do not say ' I have made my homework '. You say 'I have done my homework'.

• admeasurement
• all nighter
• annual training
• anthropopathism
• anthropopathy
• anthropophuism
• anthropopsychism
• appointment
• apportionment
• apportionment (air)
• assignation
• Assignment of dower
• assibilation
• Assideanism
• assiduously
• assiduousness
• assignability
• assigned risk
• assimilability
• assimilable
• assimilating
• assimilation
• assimilationism
• assimilationist
• assimilative
• assimilator
• assimilatory
• Assimulation
• Assiniboine
• Assiniboine Mount
• Assiniboine River
• assistance dog
• assistance mechanism
• assigned to
• assigning to
• Assignment (computer science)
• Assignment (education)
• Assignment (law)
• Assignment Action Number
• Assignment and Analysis of Broadband Spectra
• Assignment and Justification Questionnaire
• Assignment and Lease
• Assignment and Licensing System
• Assignment and Transmittal Document
• Assignment Area
• Assignment Availability Code
• Assignment by Choice
• Assignment Capsule
• Assignment Capsules
• Assignment Clause, Life Insurance
• Assignment Completed
• Assignment Consideration
• Assignment Control Authority
• Assignment Control Number
• Assignment Coordination Group
• Assignment Data Card
• Assignment Date
• Assignment Eligibility & Availability
• Assignment for benefit of creditors
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