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ascription

ascription

1 8.5
Saying that someone or something is the source of something
  • noun
  • /əˈskrɪpʃən/
translation icon : atribución
  • The researcher focused on the ascription of authorship to the various artworks in the museum.
  • causal ascriptions
  • ascription of meaning
  • ascription of properties

I think now about ascription to whom we ascribe evil.

Examples

  • But the objection has greater force in cases involving the ascription of intentions to collective entities, such as legislatures and multimember courts.

    Academic text (2018)
  • What grounds is there for withholding ascriptions of beliefs and desires to the computer?

  • If those who receive the signs interpret them correctly, ascription of meaning occurs, which can lead to effective learning.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Just because they often accompany ascriptions of blame does not mean that they are always there.

    Blog text (11)
  • Society at large should not be organized according to inborn ascription like race, but to merit and achievement.

    Academic text (2002)
  • There again, the negative ascription of Cajun spread in English through mostly English-language media.

    Academic text (1998)
  • However, although ascription and self-ascription do certainly reflect a collective identity, they do not necessarily reflect an ethnic one.

    Academic text (2008)
  • We usually take it that the same point applies to present-tense ascriptions to oneself of psychological states in general.

    Academic text (1999)
  • As Jenkins points out, it is important to distinguish between two analytically distinct processes of ascription: group identification and social categorization.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Language, in popular discourse, appears to be less negotiable and malleable than ethnic/racial ascriptions.

    Academic text (1997)

Synonyms

attribution
vsascription
6 6.3

Saying a person, thing, or event caused something

also covers qualities or authorship rather than just cause or source
adscription
vsascription
  • Formal
9.9

Saying that something belongs to a particular person or source

is broader, including qualities and authorship beyond mere assignment

How Certain

proof
2.5
ascription
1 8.5
suggestion
759 1.4
guess
768 1.0

Surface Forms

ascription singular
ascriptions plural

Morphology

ascription = ascribe (transparent) = ascribe + ion

Standard nominalization of the verb 'ascribe' using the productive suffix '-ion' yields 'the act of attributing', so the meaning is directly derived despite a minor consonant alternation in spelling.

Etymology

Ascription comes from the Latin parts ad- 'to' and scribere 'to write', the same root you see in scribe and script. So an ascription is like 'writing' a quality or cause onto a person or thing, which means saying they are responsible for it or that they are the author of it.