appoint
Americanverb (used with object)
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to name or assign to a position, an office, or the like; designate.
to appoint a new treasurer; to appoint a judge to the bench.
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to determine by authority or agreement; fix; set.
to appoint a time for the meeting.
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Law. to designate (a person) to take the benefit of an estate created by a deed or will.
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to provide with what is necessary; equip; furnish.
They appointed the house with all the latest devices.
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Archaic. to order or establish by decree or command; ordain; constitute.
laws appointed by God.
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Obsolete. to point at by way of censure.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(also intr) to assign officially, as for a position, responsibility, etc
he was appointed manager
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to establish by agreement or decree; fix
a time was appointed for the duel
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to prescribe or ordain
laws appointed by tribunal
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property law to nominate (a person), under a power granted in a deed or will, to take an interest in property
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to equip with necessary or usual features; furnish
a well-appointed hotel
Related Words
See furnish.
Other Word Forms
- appointable adjective
- appointer noun
- misappoint verb (used with object)
- reappoint verb (used with object)
- unappointable adjective
Etymology
Origin of appoint
1325–75; Middle English apointen, from Middle French apointer, equivalent to a- a- 5 + pointer “to point ”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
With a manager to find and with the same unpopular people who appointed Wilfried Nancy in charge of finding him, Celtic look directionless.
From BBC
After the Islamic revolution, its leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini appointed him Friday prayer leader of the capital, Tehran.
From BBC
Khamenei was appointed to several posts: first as deputy defense minister, then imam for Tehran’s Friday prayers and, crucially, a supervisor for the Revolutionary Guard.
From Los Angeles Times
Under the commission’s proposal, an appointed city attorney would take over the civil litigation duties, while an elected city prosecutor would handle the misdemeanors.
From Los Angeles Times
He appeared to ingratiate himself into royal circles too, becoming a director of Pitch@Palace in 2016, and being appointed to the board of a royal charity, St George's House.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.