ascribe

[ uh-skrahyb ]

verb (used with object)

, as·cribed, as·crib·ing.

1. to credit or assign, as to a cause or source; attribute; impute:

   The alphabet is usually ascribed to the Phoenicians.

2. 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.

ascribe

/ əˈskraɪb /

verb

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

Usage

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

Derived Forms

• asˈcribable, adjective

Other Words From

• a·scriba·ble adjective
• unas·cribed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ascribe¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin ascrībere, equivalent to a- a- ⁵ + scrībere to scribe ²; replacing Middle English ascrive < Middle French. See shrive

Word History and Origins

Origin of ascribe¹

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

Synonym Study

See attribute.

Example Sentences

Page even throws “Twelfth Night’s” prim steward Malvolio and debauched Falstaff into the mix, two characters not ordinarily ascribed the bad guy descriptor, but it works.

From Washington Blade

He said Bonds hated confrontations, an attribute he ascribed to being a Virgo, but only truly opened up when people earned his trust.

From Washington Post

Not everyone naturally ascribes to these Type A tendencies — and honestly, that’s a good thing — but if there’s one place we should all consider being a bit more goal-oriented, I’d argue it’s cooking.

From Eater

Randomness plays a big role in baseball, so there’s always a danger in ascribing success to specific factors and strategies.

From FiveThirtyEight

Like Kurtz’s work, the UCSF paper turned heads by ascribing memory-like properties to simple immune cells that lack the diverse antigen receptors of B and T cells.

From Quanta Magazine

Different boycotters will ascribe different meanings to the same act.

From The Daily Beast

The mother would ascribe some of his courage to him having been a Marine for eight years.

From The Daily Beast

Yet neither expressed any interest in the legend that so many people want to ascribe to the man.

From The Daily Beast

To the contrary, they ascribe to the belief that more guns on campus, in the hands of the right people, will make them safer.

From The Daily Beast

All they have to do is attribute or ascribe as much income as possible to foreign subsidiaries.

From The Daily Beast

In early English literature there was at one time a tendency to ascribe to Solomon various proverbs not in the Bible.

From Project Gutenberg

Cobdenites ascribe every known or imagined improvement in commerce, and the condition of the masses, to Free Trade.

From Project Gutenberg

Consequently, we could not ascribe these deaths to a desire for plunder on the part of some unknown person.

From Project Gutenberg

The short delay of my answer, you must ascribe on this occasion not to lazyness but to despondency.

From Project Gutenberg

What then are the musical forms to which Plato and Aristotle ascribe this remarkable efficacy?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• attribute
• impute