assent
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
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agreement, as to a proposal; concurrence.
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acquiescence; compliance.
noun
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agreement, as to a statement, proposal, etc; acceptance
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hesitant agreement; compliance
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sanction
verb
Usage
What's the difference between assent and ascent? Assent can be a noun meaning agreement, as in I give my assent, or a verb meaning to agree or give in, as in I assent to your terms. Ascent is a noun that means the act of moving upward (ascending), an upward movement, or upward movement in general. The two words are pronounced exactly the same. Perhaps the best way to remember the difference between the two is to think about what related words mean and how they’re spelled. Words related to assent involve agreement or disagreement and end with -sent, including consent and dissent. Words related to ascent involve movement and are spelled with sc, including ascend, ascension, descent, descend, and transcend. Here’s an example of assent and ascent used correctly in a sentence. Example: I asked him if he really wanted to climb the mountain, he gave his assent, and we began our ascent. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between assent and ascent.
Synonym Usage
See agree.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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assenternoun
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assentivenessnoun
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assentornoun
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reassentverb (used without object)
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assentiveadjective
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nonassentingadjective
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unassentingadjective
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unassentiveadjective
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assentinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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assentsimple
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assentssimple
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have assentedperfect
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has assentedperfect
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am assentingprogressive
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are assentingprogressive
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is assentingprogressive
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have been assentingperfect progressive
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has been assentingperfect progressive
Past
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assentedsimple
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had assentedperfect
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was assentingprogressive
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were assentingprogressive
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had been assentingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of assent
1250–1300; Middle English asenten < Old French asenter < Latin assentārī, equivalent to as- as- + sen ( t )- ( see scent) + -t- frequentative suffix + -ā- thematic vowel + -rī infinitive suffix
Explanation
Assent means agreement. If you nod your head in assent, you agree to something or you assent to it. As a verb, assent is generally followed by a phrase beginning with the word "to:" You assent to a plan, an agreement, or to an idea. Assent is also something that you can give. You can give your assent to marry your partner if he or she asks really nicely. The opposite of assent is dissent –– which means disagreeing, or even protesting in a formal way.
Vocabulary lists containing assent
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Declaration of Independence
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Some Tricky Homonyms
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Or perhaps the money could require states to assent to damage suits against their prison systems.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
When his SolarCity solar energy company ran into financial trouble in 2016, he merged it into Tesla with the assent of a compliant Tesla board.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
Mahama's predecessor, former President Nana Akufo-Addo, failed to give his assent to that version of the bill before leaving office last year.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
Once Jacqueline Kennedy nodded her assent, Walton eyed the ground and indicated the place to be staked.
From Salon ● May 7, 2026
When I ask if I can serve myself, he nods assent.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
Hungary has signaled it will back Sweden’s bid once Turkey assents.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 5, 2023
Now, it’s true that not everyone on the subreddit assents to its spiteful premise: One exhausted nurse wrote a long post about how much one of her anti-vax patients suffered, as an attempt at counterbalance.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2021
When a PhD candidate named Charles Walker pleads for late admission to his graduate seminar, Stoner assents with reluctance.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2015
The first thing Fairchild mentions — and Wheeldon immediately assents — is how the space itself changes the nature of the experience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2015
Someone assents with a shout, and someone else joins in.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
Elliot notes, a bit melodramatically, that while Erika “led me down the path to my destruction,” he actively assented to everything that happened to him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Moderna resisted, but agreed to provide test subjects with enhanced disclosures on its informed consent form, to which the FDA assented.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2026
Rubio swiftly assented to calls from European leaders to meet in Geneva to review the Witkoff-Kushner-Dmitriev plan.
From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2025
The new law may still face amendments and must be assented to by the president to become law.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2023
He liked to entice me into lies: “Gorgeous necktie,” he’d say, “that’s a Hermès, isn’t it?”—and then, when I assented, reach quickly across the lunch table and expose my poor tie’s humble lineage.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Isaac Mwaura, spokesperson for the current Kenyan government, told the BBC that the authorities were "very co-operative with the protesters and acceded to the demands, including the president not assenting to the finance bill".
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2024
All of the queen’s, and now the king’s, functions are performed by a governor general acting as their direct representative — assenting to all legislation and determining who becomes Prime Minister.
From New York Times ● May 6, 2023
I could not reconcile this—the notion of assenting to a false inferiority seemed slightly dishonest to me—but it was clear to me that they could and I respected that.
From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2020
That’s because assenting to a religion is not like choosing to be a Republican or a Democrat.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 27, 2020
“So!” said she, assenting with her head, but not looking at me.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
