Ascribe \As*cribe"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ascribed; p. pr. &
vb. n. Ascribing.] [L. ascribere, adscribere, to ascribe;
ad + scribere to write: cf. OF. ascrire. See Scribe.]
1. To attribute, impute, or refer, as to a cause; as, his
death was ascribed to a poison; to ascribe an effect to
the right cause; to ascribe such a book to such an author.
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The finest [speech] that is ascribed to Satan in the
whole poem. --Addison.
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2. To attribute, as a quality, or an appurtenance; to
consider or allege to belong.
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Syn: To Ascribe, Attribute, Impute.
Usage: Attribute denotes, 1. To refer some quality or
attribute to a being; as, to attribute power to God.
2. To refer something to its cause or source; as, to
attribute a backward spring to icebergs off the coast.
Ascribe is used equally in both these senses, but
involves a different image. To impute usually denotes
to ascribe something doubtful or wrong, and hence, in
general literature, has commonly a bad sense; as, to
impute unworthy motives. The theological sense of
impute is not here taken into view.
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More than good-will to me attribute naught.
--Spenser.
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Ascribes his gettings to his parts and merit.
--Pope.
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And fairly quit him of the imputed blame.
--Spenser.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
ascribe
v : attribute or credit to; "We attributed this quotation to
Shakespeare"; "People impute great cleverness to cats"
[syn: impute, assign, attribute]
WordNet (r) 2.0
27 Moby Thesaurus words for "ascribe":
accredit, adduce, advance, affix, allege, apply, assign, attach,
attach to, attribute, charge, cite, conjecture, connect with,
credit, fasten, fix, give, guess, impute, lay, pin on, place, put,
refer, saddle, surmise
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
assign, attribute, impute
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