assignment

Etymology

From Middle English assignement, from Old French assignement.

noun

1. The act of assigning; the allocation of a job or a set of tasks.
   This flow chart represents the assignment of tasks in our committee.
2. The categorization of something as belonging to a specific category.
   We should not condone the assignment of asylum seekers to that of people smugglers.
   1. (LGBT) The categorization of persons as belonging to the male or female sex.
3. An assigned task.
   The assignment the department gave him proved to be quite challenging.
4. A position to which someone is assigned.
   Unbeknownst to Mr Smith, his new assignment was in fact a demotion.
5. (education) A task given to students, such as homework or coursework.
   Mrs Smith gave out our assignments, and said we had to finish them by Monday.
6. (law) A transfer of a right or benefit from one person to another.
   The assignment of the lease has not been finalised yet.
7. (law) A document that effects this transfer.
   Once you receive the assignment in the post, be sure to sign it and send it back as soon as possible.
8. (programming) An operation that assigns a value to a variable.