assignment
noun
Simple meaning
Distributing something to designated places or persons.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhsynmuhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈsaɪnmənt
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of assigning; the allocation of a job or a set of tasks.
The act of putting a person into a non-elective position
An undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor)
A duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces)
education
A task given to students, such as homework or coursework.
A position to which someone is assigned.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of distributing something to designated places or persons
Used this way, assignment is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The first task is the assignment of an address to each datum.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “assignment of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Nearby words
- duty assignment , rarer, so it draws attention
Natural pattern: assignment of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use assignment
- “This flow chart represents the assignment of tasks in our committee.”noun
- “Unbeknownst to Mr Smith, his new assignment was in fact a demotion.”noun
- “Mrs Smith gave out our assignments, and said we had to finish them by Monday.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The reading of a passage assigned by the teacher.
A duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces).
A school task performed by a student to satisfy the teacher.
An assignment to write something.
An assignment to write something.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person).
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “assignment” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
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.