Definition of: attribute

(ə·trib′yt) v.t. ·ut·ed, ·ut·ing
To consider or ascribe as belonging to, resulting from, owing to, or caused by; assign; refer: to attribute the invention of music to Orpheus; to attribute wisdom to gray hair.
—at·tri·bute (at′rə·byt) noun
1. That which is assigned or ascribed; a characteristic.
2. Gram. An adjective or its equivalent.
3. In art and mythology, a distinctive mark or symbol. [<L attributus, pp. of attribuere bestow, assign <ad- to + tribuere allot, give over]
—at·trib′u·ta·ble adjective Synonyms (verb): ascribe, assign, associate, charge, connect, impute, refer. We may attribute to a person either that which belongs to him or that which we merely suppose to be his. Where we are quite sure, we simply refer a matter to the cause or class to which it belongs or ascribe to one what is surely his, etc. We associate things which may have no necessary or causal relations; as, we may associate the striking of a clock with the serving of dinner. We charge a person with what we deem blameworthy. We may impute good or evil, but more commonly evil. Antonyms: deny, disconnect, dissociate, separate, sever, sunder. Synonyms (noun): property, quality. A quality denotes what a thing really is in some one respect; an attribute is what we conceive a thing to be in some one respect; thus, while attribute may, quality must, express something of the real nature of that to which it is ascribed; we speak of the attributes of God, the qualities of matter. A property is what belongs especially to one thing as its own peculiar possession, in distinction from all other things; when we speak of the qualities or the properties of matter, quality is the more general, property the more limited term. Compare CHARACTERISTIC, EMBLEM, FIGURE. Antonyms: being, essence, nature, substance.