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/ˈætrəbjˌut/ /ətrˈɪbjˌut/ Listen

noun

Attribute n.

That which is attributed; a quality which is considered as belonging to, or inherent in, a person or thing; an essential or necessary property or characteristic. "But mercy is above this sceptered away;... It is an attribute to God himself."

Reputation. (Poetic)

(Paint. & Sculp.) A conventional symbol of office, character, or identity, added to any particular figure; as, a club is the attribute of Hercules.

(Gram.) Quality, etc., denoted by an attributive; an attributive adjunct or adjective.

verb

Attribute v. t. (past & past part. attributed; pres. part. attributing) To ascribe; to consider (something) as due or appropriate (to); to refer, as an effect to a cause; to impute; to assign; to consider as belonging (to). "We attribute nothing to God that hath any repugnancy or contradiction in it." "The merit of service is seldom attributed to the true and exact performer."

Synonyms: See Ascribe.

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Etymology of 'Attribute'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Attribute" Quotes from Famous Books

... sensitiveness to insult or contradiction. By these means they sought to prepare the judges to interpret every thing in favor of the Count, and, even if it should prove that he had inflicted the mortal blow on the usurer, to attribute it to access ...

— Wolfert's Roost and Miscellanies • Washington Irving

... of a work, to which all the minor canals in the world are like the rods of the magicians to Aaron's rod which swallowed them up, it is expected that everything shall move without difficulty, and that no oversight will have been committed. Truly this would be to attribute a power of prevision to M. Lesseps beyond what is human. The world can afford to wait a little till this huge machine gets oiled. Great enterprises move slow at the outset. We have yet unshaken faith in the ultimate ...

— Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870 • Various

... scandalised that any one should attribute the possibility of such wayward behaviour to the venerable Earl. In his agitation he ate another muffin. After all, if the nobleman did go jumping in the winter why should this young and horsey man presume ...

— The Summons • A.E.W. Mason

... its own charges, but would afford an increased dividend to the proprietors of India stock, and large relief to the English finances. These absurd expectations were disappointed; and the directors, naturally enough, chose to attribute the disappointment rather to the mismanagement of Mahommed Reza Khan than to their own ignorance of the country entrusted to their care. They were confirmed in their error by the agents of Nuncomar; for Nuncomar had agents even in Leadenhall ...

— Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... time will show. Moreover, I would have you remark that the lady in question is not suffering at all, and that the 'untold agony of soul' you attribute to Isaacs is a wholesome medicine for one with such a soul as his. And now I am going, for you are not the sort of person with whom I can enjoy talking very long. You are violent and argumentative, though you are sometimes amusing. I am rarely violent, ...

— Mr. Isaacs • F. Marion Crawford

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