List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 27

SYNONYMS: attribute, ascribe, impute, credit, assign, and refer.
These verbs mean to consider as resulting from, proper to, or belonging to a person or thing.

Attribute and ascribe, often interchangeable, have the widest application: a symphony attributed to Mozart; an invention ascribed to the 15th century.
Impute is often used in laying guilt or fault to another: We usually ascribe good; but impute evil.
Credit frequently applies to an accomplishment or virtue: Some excellent remarks were made on immortality, but mainly borrowed from and credited to Plato.
Assign and refer are often used to classify or categorize according to character or chronology: Program music as a genre is usually assigned to the Romantic period. A person thus prepared will be able to refer any particular history he takes up to its proper place in universal history.