SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS

ascribe

verb

To regard something as caused by, belonging to, or created by a particular source.

Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.

Attribute to a source

Closest synonyms

Related words and expressions

These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.

Usage distinction

Impute often assigns blame or a disputed quality; credit can assign authorship or praise.

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Test this word in the Comprehensive Synonym Exam

CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT

See ascribe in use

The curator would not ascribe the unsigned drawing to an artist without evidence.
Dictionary practice example.
A campus print team noticed that one poster had emerged with a narrow stripe. Their first hypothesis was that the uploaded image contained the stripe, but the original file looked clean. The result was anomalous because the other posters from the same session had no such mark. Rather than immediately ascribe the problem to the designer, Nia asked the team to compare the files, settings, and order of printing, keeping several possible explanations open until the records could distinguish them.
From Following the Evidence.

Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.

Synonym reference scope and sources

The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.

How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license

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