Etymology

From LatinCategory:English terms borrowed from Latin#ATTRIBUTECategory:English terms derived from Latin#ATTRIBUTE attributus.

Pronunciation

Noun

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæt.ɹɪ.bjuːt/Category:English 3-syllable words#ATTRIBUTECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ATTRIBUTE
• (General American) enPR: ătʹrĭ-byo͞ot', IPA^(key): /ˈæt.ɹɪˌbjut/Category:English 3-syllable words#ATTRIBUTECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ATTRIBUTE

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#ATTRIBUTE
• Hyphenation: at‧tri‧bute
• Rhymes: -ætɹɪbjuːtCategory:Rhymes:English/ætɹɪbjuːt#ATTRIBUTECategory:Rhymes:English/ætɹɪbjuːt/3 syllables#ATTRIBUTE

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈtɹɪb.juːt/Category:English 3-syllable words#ATTRIBUTECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ATTRIBUTE
• (General American) enPR: ə-trĭbʹyo͞ot', IPA^(key): /əˈtɹɪbˌjut/Category:English 3-syllable words#ATTRIBUTECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ATTRIBUTE

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#ATTRIBUTE
• Hyphenation: at‧trib‧ute
• Rhymes: -ɪbjuːtCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪbjuːt#ATTRIBUTECategory:Rhymes:English/ɪbjuːt/3 syllables#ATTRIBUTE

Noun

attribute (plural attributes)Category:English lemmas#ATTRIBUTECategory:English nouns#ATTRIBUTECategory:English countable nouns#ATTRIBUTECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#ATTRIBUTECategory:Pages with entries#ATTRIBUTECategory:Pages with 2 entries#ATTRIBUTE

1. A characteristic or quality of a thing.

   His finest attribute is his kindness.Category:English terms with usage examples#ATTRIBUTE

2. An object that is considered typical of someone or some function, in particular as an artistic convention.

   The eagle and the bolt of lightning are attributes of Jove.Category:English terms with usage examples#ATTRIBUTE

3. (grammarCategory:en:Grammar#ATTRIBUTE) A word that qualifies a noun.

   Synonym: qualifier

4. (logicCategory:en:Logic#ATTRIBUTE) That which is predicated or affirmed of a subject; a predicate; an accident.
5. (computingCategory:en:Computing#ATTRIBUTE, object-oriented programmingCategory:en:Object-oriented programming#ATTRIBUTE) An option or setting belonging to some object.

   This packet has its coherency attribute set to zero.Category:English terms with usage examples#ATTRIBUTE

   A file with the read-only attribute set cannot be overwritten.Category:English terms with usage examples#ATTRIBUTE

6. (programmingCategory:en:Programming#ATTRIBUTE) A semantic item with which a method or other code element may be decorated.

   Properties can be marked as obsolete with an attribute, which will cause the compiler to generate a warning if they are used.Category:English terms with usage examples#ATTRIBUTE

   • 2003, Peter Drayton, Ben Albahari, Ted Neward, C# in a Nutshell, page 536:

     This attribute is used to declare in metadata that the attributed method or class requires SocketPermission of the declared form.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ATTRIBUTE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
7. (computer graphicsCategory:en:Computer graphics#ATTRIBUTE, datedCategory:English dated terms#ATTRIBUTE) A numeric value representing the colours of part of the screen display.
   • 1987, Marcus Berkmann, Sceptre Of Bagdad (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 17

     […] you can only carry two objects, your attributes clash when you walk past multi-coloured objects and your enemies fly up and down from the ceiling.

   • 1989, PC: The Independent Guide to IBM Personal Computers:

     If any of the video buffer's background attribute bits are on, MONO converts the attribute to 70h (inverse video).

     Category:English terms with quotations#ATTRIBUTE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

Verb

attribute (third-person singular simple present attributes, present participle attributing, simple past and past participle attributed)Category:English lemmas#ATTRIBUTECategory:English verbs#ATTRIBUTECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#ATTRIBUTECategory:Pages with entries#ATTRIBUTECategory:Pages with 2 entries#ATTRIBUTE

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#ATTRIBUTE) To ascribe (something) to a given cause, reason etc.; to affix.

   Synonyms: lay, impute; see also Thesaurus:ascribe

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter I, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV:

     For as this is the liquor of modern historians, nay, perhaps their muse, if we may believe the opinion of Butler, who attributes inspiration to ale, it ought likewise to be the potation of their readers, since every book ought to be read with the same spirit and in the same manner as it is writ.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ATTRIBUTE

2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#ATTRIBUTE) To associate ownership or authorship of (something) to someone.

   This poem is attributed to Browning.Category:English terms with usage examples#ATTRIBUTE

   • 1664, John Tillotson, “Sermon I. The Wisdom of Being Religious. Job XXVIII. 28.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […], London: […] B. Aylmer, […]; [a]nd W. Rogers, […], published 1696, →OCLC:

     We attribute nothing to God that hath any repugnancy or contradiction in it.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ATTRIBUTE

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi], page 244, column 1:

     It is to be recouered, but that the merit of ſeruice is ſeldom attributed to the true and exact performer, I would haue that drumme or another, or hic iacet.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ATTRIBUTE

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 278:

     Hākim's atypical actions should not be attributed to Islam as much as to insanity, which eventually led him to proclaim himself as Allah, whereupon he was murdered by outraged fellow Muslims.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ATTRIBUTE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

Further reading

• “attribute”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “attribute”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• ribattute

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [at.trɪˈbuː.tɛ]Category:Latin 4-syllable words#ATTRIBUTECategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#ATTRIBUTE
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [at.triˈbuː.te]Category:Latin 4-syllable words#ATTRIBUTECategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#ATTRIBUTE

Adjective

attribūteCategory:Latin non-lemma forms#ATTRIBUTECategory:Latin adjective forms#ATTRIBUTECategory:Latin entries with incorrect language header#ATTRIBUTECategory:Pages with entries#ATTRIBUTECategory:Pages with 2 entries#ATTRIBUTE

1. vocative masculine singular of attribūtus