assignment Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces)
    duty assignment.
    • hazardous duty
  2. noun the instrument by which a claim or right or interest or property is transferred from one person to another
  3. noun the act of distributing something to designated places or persons
    assigning.
    • the first task is the assignment of an address to each datum
  4. noun (law) a transfer of property by deed of conveyance
    grant.
  5. noun an undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor)
  6. noun the act of putting a person into a non-elective position
    naming; appointment; designation.
    • the appointment had to be approved by the whole committee

WordNet

As*sign"ment noun
Etymology
LL. assignamentum: cf. OF. assenement.
Definitions
  1. An allotting or an appointment to a particular person or use; or for a particular time, as of a cause or causes in court.
  2. (Law) (a) A transfer of title or interest by writing, as of lease, bond, note, or bill of exchange; a transfer of the whole of some particular estate or interest in lands. (b) The writing by which an interest is transferred. (c) The transfer of the property of a bankrupt to certain persons called assignees, in whom it is vested for the benefit of creditors. ✍ Assignment is also used in law as convertible with specification; assignment of error in proceedings for review being specification of error; and assignment of perjury or fraud in indictment being specifications of perjury or fraud.

Webster 1913