What does "attribute" mean?

1. (to credit a cause or author) to say that a particular person wrote something or that a specific cause made something happen. 2. (a quality or feature) a quality or characteristic that someone or something has. 3. (computing/programming) a piece of information that describes a file or a part of a computer program. 4. (grammar) a word, like an adjective, that describes a noun.

How do you use "attribute"?

The verb is usually followed by an object and the preposition 'to'.

attribute

v. · n.

US //ˈætɹəbˌjut// at·tribute

1 to credit a cause or author (v.)
B2 Upper Intermediate Academic

to say that a particular person wrote something or that a specific cause made something happen.

to ascribe a work, remark, or event to a particular author, cause, or source. Transitive; typically takes the preposition 'to'.

Example

The museum experts attribute the unsigned painting to a famous Italian artist.

Example

Climate scientists attribute the recent increase in extreme weather events to the long-term warming of the oceans.

Usage

The verb is usually followed by an object and the preposition 'to'.
2 a quality or feature (n.)
C1 Advanced Academic Formal

a quality or characteristic that someone or something has.

a quality or feature regarded as a characteristic or inherent part of someone or something.

Example

Patience is an essential attribute for anyone working as a primary school teacher.

Example

The candidate's most impressive attribute is her ability to remain calm and analytical under intense public scrutiny.

Teacher's tip

Remind students that the noun is stressed on the first syllable (AT-tri-bute), unlike the verb.

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3 computing/programming (n.)
C1 Advanced Technical Computing

a piece of information that describes a file or a part of a computer program.

a specification that defines a property of an object, element, or file in computing and markup languages.

Example

You can change the file attribute to 'read-only' so that nobody can edit it.

Example

The developer added a new attribute to the HTML tag to ensure the image would scale correctly on mobile devices.
4 grammar (n.)
C2 Proficiency Technical Formal Grammar

a word, like an adjective, that describes a noun.

a word or phrase that modifies a noun, typically placed immediately before or after it.

Example

In the phrase 'the red car', the word 'red' is an attribute of the car.

Example

The linguist analysed how the poet used cumulative attributes to build a vivid sense of place without using a single main verb.
- modifier
- epithet

Origin

From Latin attributus.

Word family

Verbattribute
Nounattribution
Adjectiveattributable