assignment what noun

Definition of 'assign'

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assign in British English

Assign in american english, examples of 'assign' in a sentence assign, cobuild collocations assign, trends of assign.

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In other languages assign

• American English : assign / əˈsaɪn /
• Brazilian Portuguese : delegar
• Chinese : 布置 任务
• European Spanish : asignar
• French : donner
• German : zuteilen
• Italian : assegnare
• Japanese : 割り当てる
• Korean : 할당하다
• European Portuguese : delegar
• Latin American Spanish : asignar
• Thai : มอบหมาย

Browse alphabetically assign

• assiduousness
• assign a code
• assign a function
• assign a judge
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'A'

Related terms of assign

• assign blame
• assign staff
• assign meaning
• assign seating
• View more related words

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• Knowledge Base
• Nouns and pronouns

What Is a Noun? | Definition, Types & Examples

A noun is a word that represents a person, thing, concept, or place. Most sentences contain at least one noun or pronoun . For example, the sentences below contain anywhere from one to three nouns.

June is my favorite month .

Nouns are one of the main types of words in English, along with other parts of speech such as verbs . They are often, but not always, preceded by an article (“the,” “a,” or “an”) or other determiner . You can try our grammar checker to make sure you’re using nouns and other parts of speech correctly.

Table of contents

How are nouns used in sentences, nouns vs. pronouns, common vs. proper nouns, countable vs. uncountable nouns, concrete vs. abstract nouns.

• Collective nouns

Other types of nouns

Other interesting language articles, frequently asked questions about nouns.

A complete sentence usually consists of at least a subject and a verb . The subject describes some person or thing, and the verb describes an action carried out by the subject.

In most cases, the subject is a noun or a pronoun . So the most basic role for a noun is to act as the subject for a verb that follows it.

David went out.

Nouns and pronouns can also play the role of object in a sentence. An object usually comes after the verb and represents something or someone that is affected by the action described. Objects can be direct or indirect:

• The direct object is someone or something that is directly acted upon by the verb.
• The indirect object is someone or something that receives the direct object.

Please give Jeremy some bread .

Noun phrases

When analyzing sentence structure , it’s common to refer to noun phrases . A noun phrase is a noun or pronoun in combination with all the words that belong with it in the sentence, such as any articles, adjectives , or other determiners that modify the noun.

A noun phrase can consist of the noun or pronoun alone or of a much longer series of words (always including at least one noun or pronoun).

The boa constrictor is a well-known species of snake .

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Pronouns are a much smaller set of words (such as “I,” “she,” and “they”) that are used in a similar way to nouns. They are primarily used to stand in for a noun that has already been mentioned or to refer to yourself and other people.

Like nouns, pronouns can function as the head of a noun phrase and as the subject or object of a verb. You can have a complete sentence consisting of just a pronoun and a verb (e.g., “He walks.”), just as you could with a noun (“Jack walks.”).

Unlike nouns, some pronouns (mainly the personal pronouns ) change their forms depending on the grammatical context they’re used in. For example, the first-person pronoun is “I” when it’s used as a subject and “me” when it’s used as an object, whereas a noun like “dog” would look the same in both cases.

Have you ever met them before?

That is beside the point.

An important distinction is made between two types of nouns, common nouns and proper nouns.

• Common nouns are more general. A common noun refers to a class of person, place, thing, or concept, but not to someone or something specific.
• Proper nouns are the names of specific people, places, things, or concepts. They are always capitalized to distinguish them from common nouns.

Another important distinction is between countable and uncountable nouns :

• Countable nouns (also called count nouns ) refer to things that can be counted. They can be preceded by an indefinite article or a number, and they can be pluralized. Most nouns are countable (e.g., “fact(s)” or “ misnomer(s) “).
• Uncountable nouns (also called noncount nouns or mass nouns ) refer to things that can’t be counted. They should never be preceded by an indefinite article or a number, and they cannot be pluralized (e.g., “information” or “ advice “).

A common mistake in English is treating uncountable nouns as if they were countable by pluralizing them or using an indefinite article. The solution to these problems is usually to rephrase using a related term or phrase that is countable.

• My previous two researches indicated that …
• My previous two studies indicated that …
• It’s important to account for bias in a research .
• It’s important to account for bias in research .
• It’s important to account for bias in a research project.

A distinction is often made between concrete nouns and abstract nouns.

• Concrete nouns refer to physical objects, places, or individuals: things or people that can be observed with the senses, such as “apple,” “hill,” “zebra,” and “Dorothy.”
• Abstract nouns refer to concepts, ideas, feelings, and processes that can’t be physically located, such as “grammar,” “justice,” “sadness,” and “relaxation.”

There’s no grammatical difference between concrete and abstract nouns—it’s just a distinction that’s made to point out the different kinds of things nouns can refer to.

A collective noun is a word used to refer to a group of people or things, such as “team,” “band,” or “herd.” A collective noun can also be a proper noun—for example, the name of a specific company or band.

A collective noun may appear to be singular (e.g., “team”) or plural (e.g., “The Beatles”) in form, and there’s some disagreement about whether they should be treated grammatically as singular or plural. The following applies for US vs. UK English .

• In US English , it’s standard to treat collective nouns as singular, regardless of whether they look plural or not.
• In UK English , the same words may be treated as plural or singular depending on the context—for example, treated as plural when you’re emphasizing the individual members of the group, singular when you’re emphasizing the overall collective.

A gaggle of geese is the most threatening thing you’re likely to encounter at the park.

There are many nouns in English (more than any other part of speech), and accordingly many ways of forming nouns and using them. Some other important types of nouns are:

• Possessive nouns
• Attributive nouns
• Appositive nouns
• Generic nouns

A possessive noun is a noun that’s followed by an apostrophe (’) and the letter “s” to indicate possession (e.g., “my father’s house”).

To indicate possession with a plural noun that ends in “s,” you just add the apostrophe after the “s,” and don’t add an extra “s” (e.g., “my parents’ house”).

A gerund is a noun that is identical to the present participle (the “-ing” form) of a verb. These are typically nouns that describe the same activity as the verb they were formed from, such as “driving,” formed from the present participle of “drive.”

Attributive nouns are nouns that are used like adjectives , to modify another noun. For example, “company” is an attributive noun in the phrase “company policy.”

Even though attributive nouns work similarly to adjectives, they’re still classed as nouns. This is because they don’t fulfill all the grammatical requirements of adjectives. For example, they have to appear before the noun—it wouldn’t make sense to say “a policy that is company.”

An appositive noun (or appositive noun phrase) is a noun that comes after another noun to provide additional information about it.

If the appositive provides essential information (i.e., it wouldn’t be clear who or what you are referring to without it), it’s written without any extra punctuation . If it provides extra information that is not essential, it’s surrounded by commas .

A generic noun is a noun that is used to refer to a whole class of things (or people, places, etc.). They can be plural or singular, and they may appear with a definite article, an indefinite article, or no article .

The same noun may be used generically in some contexts and not others. For example, it would be equally possible to use the nouns in the sentences below in a non-generic way (e.g., “the people I know best are my brothers”; “my father operated a printing press”).

If you want to know more about nouns, pronouns , verbs , and other parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations and examples.

Nouns & pronouns

• Common nouns
• Proper nouns
• Personal pronouns
• Uncountable and countable nouns
• Verb tenses
• Phrasal verbs
• Types of verbs
• Active vs passive voice
• Subject-verb agreement
• Interjections
• Determiners
• Prepositions

A noun is a word that represents a person, thing, concept, or place (e.g., “John,” “house,” “affinity,” “river”). Most sentences contain at least one noun or pronoun .

Nouns are often, but not always, preceded by an article (“the,” “a,” or “an”) and/or another determiner such as an adjective .

There are many ways to categorize nouns into various types, and the same noun can fall into multiple categories or even change types depending on context.

Some of the main types of nouns are:

• Common and proper nouns
• Countable and uncountable nouns
• Concrete and abstract nouns

Pronouns are words like “I,” “she,” and “they” that are used in a similar way to nouns . They stand in for a noun that has already been mentioned or refer to yourself and other people.

Pronouns can function just like nouns as the head of a noun phrase and as the subject or object of a verb . However, pronouns change their forms (e.g., from “I” to “me”) depending on the grammatical context they’re used in, whereas nouns usually don’t.

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• How to Tell If a Noun Is Countable or Uncountable | Examples
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More interesting articles

• Abstract Noun | Definition, Examples & Worksheet
• Appositive | Examples, Definition & Punctuation
• Concrete Noun | Definition, Examples & Worksheet
• Demonstrative Pronouns | Definition, List & Examples
• Gerund | Definition, Form & Examples
• Indefinite Pronouns | Definition, Examples & List
• Intensive Pronouns | Examples, Definition & List
• Interrogative Pronouns | Definition, Examples & List
• Personal Pronouns | Definition, List & Examples
• Possessive Noun | Examples, Definition & Worksheet
• Possessive Pronouns | Examples, Definition & List
• Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement | Examples & Tips
• Reflexive Pronouns | Examples, Definition & List
• Relative Pronouns | Definition, List & Examples
• Second-Person Pronouns | List, Examples & Explanation
• Singular They | Usage, Examples & History
• Subject & Object Pronouns | Definition & Examples
• Third-Person Pronouns | List, Examples & Explanation
• What Is a Collective Noun? | Examples & Definition
• What Is a Common Noun? | Definition & Examples
• What Is a Plural Noun? | Examples, Rules & Exceptions
• What Is a Proper Noun? | Definition & Examples

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Assignment vs Assignation - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between assignment and assignation, assignation, usage notes.

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of assign in English

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assign verb [T] ( CHOOSE )

• Every available officer will be assigned to the investigation .
• The textbooks were assigned by the course director .
• Part of the group was assigned to clear land mines .
• Each trainee is assigned a mentor who will help them learn more about the job .
• We were assigned an interpreter for the duration of our stay .
• accommodate
• accommodate someone with something
• administration
• arm someone with something
• hand something around
• hand something back
• hand something down
• hand something in
• put something on
• re-equipment
• reassignment

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

assign verb [T] ( SEND )

• She was assigned to the Paris office .
• All the team was assigned to Poland.
• advertisement
• employment agency
• recruitment drive
• reinstatement
• relocation expenses

assign verb [T] ( COMPUTING )

• 3-D printing
• adaptive learning
• additive manufacturing
• hexadecimal
• hill climbing
• techno-solutionism
• word processing

assign verb [T] ( GIVE LEGALLY )

Phrasal verb, assign | intermediate english, assign | business english, examples of assign, translations of assign.

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• assign (CHOOSE)
• assign (SEND)
• assign (COMPUTING)
• assign (GIVE LEGALLY)
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Orioles Designate Reliever Craig Kimbrel for Assignment After Meltdown Against Giants

Patrick andres | sep 18, 2024.

• Baltimore Orioles

In the wake of a complete collapse against the San Francisco Giants Tuesday, the Baltimore Orioles are parting ways with a veteran reliever.

The Orioles have designated pitcher Craig Kimbrel for assignment, they announced Wednesday afternoon. In Baltimore's 10–0 loss to the Giants Thursday, Kimbrel surrendered six earned runs in two-thirds of an inning.

Kimbrel pitched in 57 games for the Orioles this season, going 7-5 with a 5.33 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings.

Once one of the most feared closers in baseball, Kimbrel has nine career All-Star appearances to his name. The 36-year-old's 440 career saves rank fifth in baseball history, and trail only Kenley Jansen among active pitchers.

The Orioles did it: They DFA’d Craig Kimbrel. — Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) September 18, 2024

In an otherwise rock-solid season for Baltimore, its bullpen has been a major question mark. With Kimbrel presumably on his way out the door, pitcher Seranthony Dominiguez is now the Orioles' saves leader with nine.

Baltimore is currently 84-67, four games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East division.

More of the Latest Around MLB

PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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Definition of assign verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• assign something (to somebody) The teacher assigned a different task to each of the children.
• The two large classrooms have been assigned to us.
• assign somebody something We have been assigned the two large classrooms.
• The teacher assigned each of the children a different task.

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Find out which words work together and produce more natural-sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.