First Known Use: 15th century
Dictionary
assess
verb as·sess \ə-ˈses, a-\
: to make a judgment about (something)
: to officially say what the amount, value, or rate of (something) is
: to tax or charge (someone or something) : to require (a person, business, etc.) to pay a particular amount of money
Full Definition of ASSESS
transitive verb
1
: to determine the rate or amount of (as a tax)
2
a : to impose (as a tax) according to an established rate b : to subject to a tax, charge, or levy
3
: to make an official valuation of (property) for the purposes of taxation
4
: to determine the importance, size, or value of <assess a problem>
5
: to charge (a player or team) with a foul or penalty
— as·sess·able \-ˈse-sə-bəl\ adjective
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Examples of ASSESS
- Cornell graduate student James Tanner spent three years in the early 1940s slogging southern swamps and bayous to assess where and how the species could be saved. By his reckoning, no more than twenty-four ivory-bills remained in the entire Southeast. —John Terborgh, New York Review of Books, 26 Apr. 2007
- When the training staff determined that Everett had no mobility below his neck, Cappuccino was waved onto the field. He performed a quick battery of tests to assess the severity of the injury, squeezing various parts of Everett's body and asking him to respond. —Tim Layden, Sports Illustrated, 17 Dec. 2007
- Tetlock found that his experts used a double standard: they were much tougher in assessing the validity of information that undercut their theory than they were in crediting information that supported it. —Louis Menand, New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2005
- Briefly, the way it works is this. Every time a hog is sold, the seller is assessed 40 cents per $100 of sale value to promote the consumption of pork. —Warren R. Ross, UU World, Fall 2005
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Origin of ASSESS
Middle English, probably from Medieval Latin assessus, past participle of assidēre, from Latin, to sit beside, assist in the office of a judge — more at assize
Synonym Discussion of ASSESS
estimate, appraise, evaluate, value, rate, assess mean to judge something with respect to its worth or significance. estimate implies a judgment, considered or casual, that precedes or takes the place of actual measuring or counting or testing out <estimated the crowd at two hundred>. appraise commonly implies the fixing by an expert of the monetary worth of a thing, but it may be used of any critical judgment <having their house appraised>. evaluate suggests an attempt to determine relative or intrinsic worth in terms other than monetary <evaluate a student's work>. value equals appraise but without implying expertness of judgment <a watercolor valued by the donor at $500>. rate adds to estimate the notion of placing a thing according to a scale of values <a highly rated restaurant>. assess implies a critical appraisal for the purpose of understanding or interpreting, or as a guide in taking action <officials are trying to assess the damage>.
Other Economics Terms
Rhymes with ASSESS
abscess, access, address, aggress, bench-press, caress, clothespress, coatdress, cold-press, compress, confess, cross-dress, CS, depress, de-stress, digress, distress, drill press, egress, excess, express, finesse, fluoresce, French press, full-dress, handpress, headdress, housedress, idlesse, impress, ingress, Meknes, much less, nightdress, noblesse, no less, obsess, oppress, outguess, possess, precess, prestress, princess, process, profess, progress, recess, redress, regress, re-press, repress, shirtdress, side-dress, SS, success, sundress, suppress, tendresse, top-dress, transgress, undress, unless, web press, winepress, word stress
ASSESS Defined for Kids
assess
verb as·sess \ə-ˈses\
as·sessedas·sess·ing
Definition of ASSESS for Kids
1
: to make a judgment about <The school assessed the students' progress each year.>
2
: to decide on the rate, value, or amount of (as for taxation) <The jury assessed damages of $5000.> <The house was assessed at $140,000.>
3
: to put a charge or tax on <The city assessed all car owners a fee.>
— as·ses·sor \-ər\ noun <a tax assessor>
Headscratcher for ASSESS
Assesses is the longest word in English that contains only one consonant repeated over and over again.
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