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attributed

v.
C1 Advanced US //əˈtɹɪbjətɪd// UK //ɐtɹˈɪbjuːtɪd// at·trib·uted

v. to say or believe that something is the result of a specific cause. You use this when you want to explain who created something or why something happened.

v. to regard something as being caused by or belonging to a specific person or thing. Transitive; frequently used in the passive voice to link an effect to its source.


SIMPLE

The success of the project is attributed to hard work.

CONTEXTUAL

The sudden crash in the software was attributed to a memory leak that the developers missed during testing.

COMPLEX

While the quote is widely attributed to the famous author, historical records suggest it actually originated from an anonymous editorial published several decades earlier.

Synonyms
Usage

The verb is transitive and almost always requires the preposition 'to' to connect the result to the cause.

Pitfall

The success was attributed for his effortThe success was attributed to his effortThe verb 'attribute' must be followed by the preposition 'to', not 'for' or 'by'.

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