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appoint

verb

Simple meaning

To furnish or equip completely.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhpoynt

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əˈpɔɪnt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To name (someone to a post or role).

  2. transitive

    To furnish or equip (a place) completely; to provide with all the equipment or furnishings necessary; to fit out.

  3. transitive

    To equip (someone) with (something); to assign (someone) authoritatively (some equipment).

  4. transitive

    To set, fix or determine (a time or place for something such as a meeting, or the meeting itself) by authority or agreement.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To name (someone to a post or role).

Used this way, appoint is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

appoint twohereby appointlaw appoint

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • appointedadjectiveInflected form

    Subject to appointment.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • appointmentnounDerived noun

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

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • appointeenounRelated term

    An official who is appointed.

  • power of appointmentnounRelated term

    Authority given (in a will or deed) by a donor to a donee to appoint the beneficiaries of the donor's property.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.