asset

American  

[as-et] / ˈæs ɛt /

noun

1. a useful and desirable thing or quality.

   Organizational ability is an asset.

2. a single item of ownership having exchange value.

   Our summer home is an asset we're not willing to sell.

3. Digital Technology. one of the media components that, taken together, comprise all of the elements of a video game, such as the environments, objects, character art and animation, and sound design.

   All of the game assets are downloaded to your hard drive during the install, so slow load times are local and indicate a problem with your drive.

4. (in intelligence and information gathering) a person followed or spied upon to obtain information, who may be consenting, forced, or unaware of being used.

   They threatened to release a catalog of virtually every CIA asset within the Soviet Union.

5. Military. a physical resource, such as a piece of equipment, vehicle, or building.

6. assets. assets.

---

asset British  

/ ˈæsɛt /

noun

1. anything valuable or useful See also assets

   experience is their main asset

---

asset Cultural  

1. A possession that can be turned into cash to cover liabilities.

---

Discover More

Commonly, the term denotes anything of value.

Other Word Forms

• assetless adjective

Etymology

Origin of asset

First recorded in 1525–35; back formation from assets, in phrase have assets, literally, “have enough (to pay obligations),” from Anglo-French, Old French asez “enough,” from unattested Vulgar Latin ad satis “to sufficiency”; assai ¹

Example Sentences

The technology fund got $127 million in new capital, which left a net outflow of $52 million—amounting to about 2% of the fund’s net asset value.

From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026

The Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives concluded that modest use of alternative asset classes in a diversified target-date fund has the potential to improve a participant’s annual retirement income by 11% to 17%.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026

The technology fund, which calls itself OTIC, had a net asset value of around $3 billion in December, according to Blue Owl Capital.

From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026

Crucially, the proposal speaks about all asset classes and doesn’t single out any particular type of investment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026

Eventually Berkeley’s auditors would bring the fund fully into the formal regime established for all such trust funds, requiring that it be deposited in an interest-bearing bank account and designated as a university asset.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Related Words

• aid
• benefit
• credit
• resource
• service