attribute

I

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. quality, trait, property; see characteristic , quality 1 .

See Synonym Study at quality . v.

Syn. ascribe, credit, impute, assign, refer to, trace to, connect, give credit, accredit, associate, attach, put down to, set down to, lay to, apply to, fix upon, account for, point to, blame, chalk up to, lay at one's door*; see also accuse .

Ant. deny*, dissociate, absolve.

Syn.- attribute implies assignment of a quality, factor, or responsibility that may reasonably be regarded as applying or belonging to someone or something [ to attribute an error to carelessness ] ; ascribe implies assignment of something that may reasonably be deduced [ to ascribe a motive to someone ] ; impute usually implies the assignment of something unfavorable or accusatory [ to impute evil to someone ] ; assign , in this comParison, implies the placement of something in a particular category because of some quality or characteristic attributed to it [ to assign a poem to the 17th century ] ; credit implies belief in the possession of some quality or the responsibility for some action, often of a commendable nature [ to credit someone with intelligence ] ; attach implies the connection of something with something else as being appropriate to it [ different people attach different meanings to words ]

II

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

quality, characteristic, trait, feature, distinction, quirk, facet, virtue.

II

v.

assign, ascribe, credit, charge with, blame, impute, account for.

III

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I verb To regard as belonging to or resulting from another: accredit, ascribe, assign, charge, credit, impute, lay1, refer. See GIVE. II noun 1. A distinctive element: character, characteristic, feature, mark, peculiarity, property, quality, savor, trait. See BE. 2. An object associated with and serving to identify something else: emblem, symbol. See SUBSTITUTE.