ENGLISH
REFERENCE

ascribe

v.
C1 Advanced US //əsˈkɹaɪb// UK //ɐskɹˈaɪb// as·cribe Dialect

v. to say that a quality, a cause, or a responsibility belongs to someone or something. You use this when you want to explain why something happened or who is responsible for it.

v. to attribute a quality, cause, or responsibility to a person or thing. Transitive — requires a direct object and often takes a prepositional phrase to indicate the source of the quality.


SIMPLE

Many people ascribe the success of the team to the coach.

CONTEXTUAL

The researchers ascribe the sudden drop in sales to the recent economic downturn rather than poor marketing.

COMPLEX

While some critics ascribe the author's later works to a decline in mental health, others argue that the shift in style reflects a deliberate artistic evolution.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English ascriben, from Old French ascrivre (“inscribe, attribute, impute”), from Latin āscrībere (“to state in writing”), equivalent to a- + scribe.

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