Webster's English Dictionary

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ascribe

as.cribe \*-'skri-b\ vt [ME ascriven, fr. MF ascrivre, fr. L ascribere, fr. 
   ad-] + scribere to write - more at SCRIBE : to refer to a supposed cause, 
   source, or author : ATTRIBUTEM: ASCRIBE suggests an inferring or 
   conjecturing of cause, quality, authorship; ATTRIBUTE suggests less 
   tentativeness than ASCRIBE, less definiteness than ASSIGN; ASSIGN implies 
   ascribing with certainty or after deliberation; IMPUTE suggests ascribing 
   something that brings discredit by way of accusation or blame; REFER 
   suggests assigning a thing to a class or to an origin or cause; CREDIT 
   implies ascribing a thing or esp. an action to a person or other thing as 
   its agent, source, or explanation SYN syn ATTRIBUTE, ASSIGN, IMPUTE, REFER, 
   CREDIT)