APPOINT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does appoint mean? 

• APPOINT (verb)
  The verb APPOINT has 3 senses:

1. create and charge with a task or function

2. assign a duty, responsibility or obligation to

3. furnish

  Familiarity information: APPOINT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• APPOINT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they appoint    ... he / she / it appoints   
Past simple: appointed   
Past participle: appointed   
-ing form: appointing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Create and charge with a task or function

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

appoint; constitute; name; nominate

Context example:

nominate a committee

Hypernyms (to "appoint" is one way to...):

constitute; establish; found; institute; plant (set up or lay the groundwork for)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "appoint"):

pack (set up a committee or legislative body with one's own supporters so as to influence the outcome)

co-opt (appoint summarily or commandeer)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

appointee (a person who is appointed to a job or position)

appointee (an official who is appointed)

appointive (subject to appointment)

appointive (relating to the act of appointing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Assign a duty, responsibility or obligation to

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

appoint; charge

Context example:

She was charged with supervising the creation of a concordance

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "appoint"):

assign; delegate; depute; designate (give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person))

depute; deputise; deputize (appoint as a substitute)

make; name; nominate (charge with a function; charge to be)

authorise; authorize; empower (give or delegate power or authority to)

accredit (provide or send (envoys or embassadors) with official credentials)

create (invest with a new title, office, or rank)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody something

Sentence example:

They appoint him to write the letter

Derivation:

appointee (a person who is appointed to a job or position)

appointee (an official who is appointed)

appointive (subject to appointment)

appointive (relating to the act of appointing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Furnish

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

a beautifully appointed house

Hypernyms (to "appoint" is one way to...):

equip; fit; fit out; outfit (provide with (something) usually for a specific purpose)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody with something

 Context examples 

Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris have half a dozen good horses, well appointed.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Regularly, each morning after he had finished his breakfast, she performed her self-appointed task, till he came to look for her ministrations as much as he did for Thornton’s.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

It was a perfectly appointed, small steam laundry, wherein the most modern machinery did everything that was possible for machinery to do.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

At the appointed time in the evening, Mr. Micawber reappeared.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You may believe, then, that I was in my consulting-room when, at the appointed hour, the page showed in the patient.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At last he arrived in Rome, where the Pope had just died, and there was great doubt among the cardinals as to whom they should appoint as his successor.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Independent of his two cousins' enjoyment in it, the evening was to him of no higher value than any other appointed meeting of the two families might be.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Willing therefore to delay the evil hour, she resolved to wait till her sister's health were more secure, before she appointed it.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I hold that the more arid and unreclaimed the soil where the Christian labourer's task of tillage is appointed him—the scantier the meed his toil brings—the higher the honour.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A person appointed or elected to represent others.

(Delegate, NCI Thesaurus)