assign
gb/əsˈaɪn/ us/əsˈaɪn/
B1
Anglais
~ 8100
Sens
0 sens
Verbe
B1
action
1
give someone a task or duty
To tell someone to do a specific job or task.
Schéma d’usage :
to assign [someone] [a task] / to assign [a task] to [someone]
Erreur fréquente :
Learners sometimes say *"give a homework"* instead of *"assign homework"* or *"give homework"*. Another common mistake is using the wrong preposition, such as *"assign a task for someone"* instead of *"assign a task to someone"*.
Synonymes
give (More general and less formal; does not always imply an official task.)
|
delegate (Suggests giving a task that you could do yourself, often in a work context.)
|
appoint (Often used for giving an official job or position rather than a single task.)
Antonymes
relieve (To remove someone’s duty or responsibility, often in formal or work contexts.)
|
withhold (To not give a task, role, or responsibility that could have been given.)
Collocations
assign homework
|assign tasks
|assign roles
|assign responsibilities
|assign duties
Thèmes
work
|education
|organization
|core_vocabulary
Exemples
- The manager assigned me three reports to finish by Friday.
- Teachers often assign group projects to encourage teamwork.
- She was assigned the task of organizing the annual conference.
- Please assign each volunteer a specific job before the event starts.
- Our coach assigned us different positions for the next game.
Exemples pédagogiques
- My teacher assigned us homework.
- The boss assigned me a new task.
- They assigned John to answer all customer emails.
- The coach assigned each player a job on the team.
- Our manager assigned a big project to our team.
Verbe
B2
action
2
allocate something to a person or use
To give something, like a room or money or time, to a person or a use.
Schéma d’usage :
to assign [something] to [someone/something]
Erreur fréquente :
Learners sometimes mix this sense with the idea of giving a task. For physical things or resources (rooms, seats, money, staff), use *assign* in the sense of allocation. Also, avoid *"assign for someone"*; use *"assign to someone"*.
Synonymes
allocate (Very close in meaning, often used in business or official contexts for distributing limited resources.)
|
distribute (Focuses more on dividing things among many people or places.)
|
designate (Emphasizes formally choosing something for a special use or purpose.)
Antonymes
withdraw (To remove resources or things that were previously assigned or allocated.)
|
revoke (To officially cancel a previous assignment or allocation.)
Collocations
assign rooms
|assign seats
|assign resources
|assign staff
|assign time
Thèmes
business
|organization
|planning
|work
Exemples
- The hotel assigned us a room on the top floor.
- Each student was assigned a seat before the exam began.
- More staff were assigned to the help desk during the busy season.
- The company assigned a larger budget to marketing this year.
- Extra security was assigned to the event after the incident.
Exemples pédagogiques
- The teacher assigned a seat to each student.
- The manager assigned two workers to the night shift.
- They assigned more money to the project.
- Our school assigned one bus to each team.
- The office assigned a parking space to me.
Verbe
B2
action
3
give a label, value, or category
To put a name, number, value, or category on something.
Schéma d’usage :
to assign [a label/value/role] to [something]
Erreur fréquente :
Learners may confuse this sense with simply *"calling"* something a name. *Assign* is more formal and is used when names, numbers, values, or categories are part of a system, not just casual speech.
Synonymes
label (More informal and concrete, often about everyday names or tags.)
|
attribute (Often used when giving a cause, quality, or source to something, especially in academic contexts.)
|
designate (Stresses officially deciding a role, status, or category.)
Antonymes
remove (To take away a label, value, or role that was previously assigned.)
|
ignore (To choose not to give any label or value, leaving something uncategorized.)
Collocations
assign a value
|assign a number
|assign a name
|assign a role
|assign a category
Thèmes
science
|technology
|mathematics
|communication
Exemples
- Each product is assigned a unique serial number.
- The system automatically assigns a username to new users.
- The director assigned lead roles to the most experienced actors.
- The study assigned different risk levels to each group.
- In this exercise, we assign a value of 1 to "true" and 0 to "false".
Exemples pédagogiques
- The teacher assigned a number to each student.
- The computer assigns a new ID to every user.
- We assigned red to high danger and green to low danger.
- Our boss assigned the title of team leader to Anna.
- They assigned the name "Project X" to the plan.
Verbe
B2
action
4
send someone to a place or duty
To officially send someone to work in a place or on a special job.
Schéma d’usage :
to assign [someone] to [a place/project/case]
Erreur fréquente :
Learners sometimes use *"send"* instead of *"assign"* in formal work contexts. *Send* focuses on movement, while *assign* focuses on the official duty or position. Also, remember the preposition *"to"* in *"assign someone to a place/project"*.
Synonymes
post (Often used for military or government positions in a particular location.)
|
deploy (Common with military or technical staff; suggests sending people where they are needed.)
|
appoint (Focuses more on giving a role or position, less on the physical place.)
Antonymes
reassign (To move someone from their current assignment to another place or duty.)
|
dismiss (To remove someone from a job or duty completely.)
Collocations
assign someone to a case
|assign someone to a project
|assign someone to the unit
|assigned to duty
|assigned to the office
Thèmes
work
|military
|organization
|business
Exemples
- After her training, she was assigned to the Tokyo office.
- Two detectives were assigned to the case immediately.
- New nurses were assigned to the emergency department during the holiday period.
- He was assigned to a remote base for six months.
- The intern was assigned to work with the marketing team.
Exemples pédagogiques
- The company assigned her to the London branch.
- He was assigned to a new project last week.
- Two police officers were assigned to the accident.
- After school, I was assigned to work in the main office.
- The army assigned him to a unit near the border.
Verbe
technical
C1
action
5
transfer legal rights to someone
To give your legal rights in something, like a contract or property, to another person or company.
Schéma d’usage :
to assign [rights/contract/claim] to [someone/something]
Erreur fréquente :
Learners may think this legal use is the same as simply *"giving"* or *"sharing"* something. In law, *assign* usually means a formal, written transfer of rights, often with strict rules.
Synonymes
transfer (General word for moving rights or property from one person to another; not always specifically legal jargon.)
|
convey (Legal term often used in property law for transferring ownership.)
Antonymes
retain (To keep legal rights instead of giving them to someone else.)
|
reclaim (To get back rights that were previously assigned or given away.)
Collocations
assign rights
|assign a contract
|assign a claim
|assign a lease
|assign copyright
Thèmes
law
|business
|finance
Exemples
- The company assigned its rights under the agreement to a third party.
- He assigned his interest in the property to his daughter.
- Under this clause, the tenant may not assign the lease without written consent.
- The inventor assigned the patent to the university.
- All claims were assigned to the insurance provider for collection.
Exemples pédagogiques
- The artist assigned the copyright to the publisher.
- She assigned her rights in the contract to another company.
- You cannot assign this lease without the landlord’s permission.
- He assigned the claim to his lawyer for collection.
- The owner assigned the patent to the firm.
Grammaire
Forme canonique
assign
API
GB/əsˈaɪn/
US/əsˈaɪn/
Syllabes et accentuation
as - sign (2 syllabes)
Stress on 2nd syllable (sign)
Formes du mot
Verb
- Base: assign
- 3rd Person Singular: assigns
- Present Participle: assigning
- Past: assigned
Famille de mots
Forms
assigns
verb
assigning
verb
assigned
verb
Core family
assignment
noun A2
Related words
reassign
verb
reassignment
noun
Negative and opposite forms
unassigned
adjective
Advanced or less common
assignable
adjective
assignee
noun
Expressions
assign a value
1/əsˈaɪn ə vˈælju/
fixed phrase
technical
give a specific value to something
To give a number or other value to something, especially in math, science, or computer programs.
Exemples
- In this formula, we assign a value of 10 to X.
- The program assigns a value to each option based on user input.
assign blame
1/əsˈaɪn blˈeɪm/
fixed phrase
say who is responsible for a problem
To say or decide that someone or something is responsible for a bad result or problem.
Exemples
- The report stops short of assigning blame for the failure.
- It is too early to assign blame for the accident.
- Instead of assigning blame, the team focused on fixing the issue.
assign homework
1/əsˈaɪn hˈoʊmwˌɚk/
fixed phrase
give students work to do at home
For a teacher to give students schoolwork that they must do outside class.
Exemples
- Our math teacher assigns a lot of homework every week.
- The professor usually assigns homework after each lecture.
- Some parents think schools assign too much homework.