attribute
attribute Lexical Profile
attribute Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A quality, character, or feature regarded as a characteristic or inherent part of someone or something.
"Patience and empathy are essential attributes for anyone working in early childhood education."
A named data field, property, or specification that defines a characteristic of an object, element, or database record (in computing and grammar).
"You can adjust the image size by modifying the width and height attributes in the HTML tag."
A material object recognized in art or mythology as a symbolic emblem of a particular person, office, or deity.
"In classical sculpture, the thunderbolt and eagle serve as the traditional attributes of Jupiter."
• verb
To regard something as being caused by a particular person, factor, or event.
"Climate scientists attribute the rapid melting of the glacier to rising global temperatures."
To regard a work of art, quotation, or text as having been created or written by a particular person or in a specific period.
"Art historians now attribute the unsigned portrait to a student of Rembrandt."
Word Nuance & Usage
The word is a heteronym: as a noun ('an attribute'), primary stress falls on the first syllable, whereas as a verb ('to attribute'), primary stress shifts to the second syllable.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 14th century from Latin attributus, the past participle of attribuere ('to assign or bestow'), formed from ad- ('to') and tribuere ('to assign, allot, or divide among tribes').