English Reference
noun

assignment

n.
US /əˈsaɪnmənt/ UK /ɐsˈaɪnmənt/ as·sign·ment UK spelling assignment's, assignment's

  1. 01 B1 Intermediate Education

    a piece of work or a task given to students as part of their studies.

    a specific task or project allocated to students, typically contributing to their final grade.

    Simple

    I have to finish my history assignment before the weekend starts.

    In context

    The professor distributed the final assignment, which required students to conduct original field research and present their findings in a formal report.

    homeworkcourseworkproject
  2. 02 B1 Intermediate

    a job or duty that you are given to do by your boss or company.

    a specific task or duty assigned to an individual or group in a professional context.

    Simple

    Her first assignment in the new job was to organize the annual conference.

    In context

    The journalist accepted a dangerous assignment in a conflict zone, knowing the risks involved in reporting from the front lines.

  3. 03 B2 Upper Intermediate Academic

    the act of giving someone a particular job, position, or category.

    the process of allocating a specific role, responsibility, or classification to a person or object.

    Simple

    The assignment of roles for the play took several hours of discussion.

    In context

    The efficient assignment of resources is critical to the success of any large-scale infrastructure project.

  4. 04 C1 Advanced FormalTechnical Law

    the legal transfer of a right, property, or benefit to another person.

    the formal transfer of a legal right, interest, or title from one party to another.

    Simple

    The assignment of the lease must be signed by both the old and new tenants.

    In context

    The contract includes a clause prohibiting the assignment of intellectual property rights without prior written consent from the board of directors.

    transferhandover
  5. 05 C1 Advanced Technical Computing

    the act of giving a specific value to a variable in a computer program.

    a statement or operation that sets or resets the value stored in a storage location denoted by a variable name.

    Simple

    The programmer used an assignment to change the player's score to zero.

    In context

    The script failed because an assignment was attempted on a constant variable that had already been initialized.


From Middle English assignement, from Old French assignement. By surface analysis, assign + -ment.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Old French assignement
Level B1 · Intermediate
Frequency Common
Updated