different between assign vs associate

English

Etymology

From Middle English assignen, from Old French assigner, asigner, from Latin assign?, from ad- + sign? (“mark, sign”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??sa?n/
• Hyphenation: as?sign
• Rhymes: -a?n

Verb

assign (third-person singular simple present assigns, present participle assigning, simple past and past participle assigned)

1. (transitive) To designate or set apart something for some purpose.

2. (transitive) To appoint or select someone for some office.

3. (transitive) To allot or give something as a task.
   • Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

4. (transitive) To attribute or sort something into categories.
5. (transitive, law) To transfer property, a legal right, etc., from one person to another.
6. (transitive, programming) To give (a value) to a variable.

Synonyms

• (set apart something for some purpose): allocate, earmark; see also Thesaurus:set apart
• (transfer property): consign, convey; see also Thesaurus:transfer

Derived terms

• assignment
• assignable
• assignation

Translations

Noun

assign (plural assigns)

1. An assignee.
2. (obsolete) A thing relating or belonging to something else; an appurtenance.
3. (obsolete) An assignment or appointment.
4. (obsolete) A design or purpose.

English

Etymology

From Latin associ?.

Pronunciation

• Verb: (these pronunciations can also apply to the noun and adjective)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ?s?'shi?t, ?s?'si?t IPA^(key): /??s???ie?t/, /??s??sie?t/
  • (General American) enPR: ?s?'shi?t, ?s?'si?t IPA^(key): /??so??ie?t/, /??so?sie?t/
• Noun and adjective:
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ?s?'shi?t, ?s?'si?t IPA^(key): /??s???i.?t/, /??s??si.?t/
  • (General American) enPR: ?s?'shi?t, ?s?'si?t IPA^(key): /??so??i.?t/, /??so?si.?t/
• Hyphenation: as?so?ci?ate

Adjective

associate (not comparable)

1. Joined with another or others and having lower status.

2. Having partial status or privileges.

3. Following or accompanying; concomitant.
4. (biology, dated) Connected by habit or sympathy.

Translations

Noun

associate (plural associates)

1. A person united with another or others in an act, enterprise, or business; a partner.
2. Somebody with whom one works, coworker, colleague.
3. A companion; a comrade.
4. One that habitually accompanies or is associated with another; an attendant circumstance.
5. A member of an institution or society who is granted only partial status or privileges.
6. (algebra) One of a pair of elements of an integral domain (or a ring) such that the two elements are divisible by each other (or, equivalently, such that each one can be expressed as the product of the other with a unit).

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:associate

Translations

Verb

associate (third-person singular simple present associates, present participle associating, simple past and past participle associated)

1. (intransitive) To join in or form a league, union, or association.
2. (intransitive) To spend time socially; keep company.
3. (transitive, with with) To join as a partner, ally, or friend.

4. (transitive) To connect or join together; combine.

   Synonyms: attach, join, put together, unite; see also Thesaurus:join

5. (transitive) To connect evidentially, or in the mind or imagination.
   • 1819 September 21, John Keats, letter to John Hamilton Reynolds:

     I always somehow associate Chatterton with autumn.
6. (reflexive, in deliberative bodies) To endorse.
7. (mathematics) To be associative.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To accompany; to be in the company of.
   • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Act V, scene iii:

     Friends should associate friends in grief and woe

Antonyms

• disassociate

Related terms

• association
• associative

Translations

References

• “associate” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Italian

Verb

associate

1. second-person plural present indicative of associare
2. second-person plural imperative of associare
3. second-person plural present subjunctive of associare
4. feminine plural of associato

Latin

Verb

associ?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of associ?