ascribing

verb (used with object), as·cribed, as·crib·ing.

to credit or assign, as to a cause or source; attribute; impute: The alphabet is usually ascribed to the Phoenicians.

to attribute or think of as belonging, as a quality or characteristic: They ascribed courage to me for something I did out of sheer panic.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin ascrībere, equivalent to a- a-⁵ + scrībere to scribe²; replacing Middle English ascrive < Middle French. See shrive

Related forms

a·scrib·a·ble, adjective

un·as·cribed, adjective

Can be confused: ascribe, proscribe, subscribe.

Synonyms
1. See attribute.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To ascribing

Relevant Questions

00:10

Ascribing is always a great word to know.

So is slumgullion. Does it mean:

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

ascribe (əˈskraɪb)

—vb
1.	to credit or assign, as to a particular origin or period: to ascribe parts of a play to Shakespeare
2.	to attribute as a quality; consider as belonging to: to ascribe beauty to youth

[C15: from Latin ascrībere to enrol, from ad in addition + scrībere to write]

usage Ascribe is sometimes wrongly used where subscribe is meant: I do not subscribe (not ascribe) to this view

as'cribable

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

ascribe

mid-14c., ascrive, from O.Fr. ascrivre "to attribute, inscribe," from L. ascribere "to write in, to add to in a writing," from ad- "to" + scribere "to write" (see script). Spelling restored 16c.

Example sentences

To claim his fashion magazine sensibility for the cause of high art is a way of

ascribing nutritive value to eye candy.

We never clothed him with those attributes of dignity which gentlemen have

accused us of ascribing to him.

No one is ascribing any specific belligerence to them.

Provides evidence for ascribing importance of communication skills depending on

work relationship.

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anthropomorphic ascribe

Matching Quote

"It is a necessary condition of one's ascribing states of consciousness, experiences, to oneself, in the way one does, that one should also ascribe them, or be prepared to ascribe them, to others who are not oneself.... The ascribing phrases are used in just the same sense when the subject is another as when the subject is oneself."

-Sir Peter Frederick Strawson