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Definition of assign

 (Entry 1 of 2)

transitive verb

Definition of assign  (Entry 2 of 2)

• intrust

ascribe , attribute , assign , impute , credit mean to lay something to the account of a person or thing.

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.

credit implies ascribing a thing or especially an action to a person or other thing as its agent, source, or explanation.

Examples of assign in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'assign.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Verb and Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French assigner , from Latin assignare , from ad- + signare to mark, from signum mark, sign

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing assign

• pre - assign

Dictionary Entries Near assign

Cite this entry.

“Assign.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assign. Accessed 18 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of assign, legal definition, legal definition of assign.

Legal Definition of assign  (Entry 2 of 2)

More from Merriam-Webster on assign

Nglish: Translation of assign for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of assign for Arabic Speakers

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noun as in responsibility, task

Strongest matches

• appointment

Strong matches

noun as in selecting or setting apart

• distribution
• apportionment
• appropriation
• assignation
• attribution
• authorization
• consignment
• designation
• determination
• specification
• stipulation

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Example sentences.

Yariel Valdés González and I faced these challenges while on assignment in South Florida and the Deep South from July 21-Aug.

They’re putting time into decoration just as they would in their physical classroom, and students can interact with the space by, say, clicking on a bookshelf to get a reading assignment.

For now, if the district moves to in-person learning, instruction in Carlsbad will take place on campus five days per week and students may engage in additional independent practices and other assignments at home.

The assignments must also respect the relationships between the elements in the group.

It’s very hard, by the way, to do real random assignment studies of couples therapy.

His most recent assignment was the 84th Precinct, at the Brooklyn end of the Brooklyn Bridge.

When Lewis was shipped off to Vietnam, his son was just three months old, and the timing of the assignment worried Lewis.

When Vial got that first assignment, she was just beginning her photography career, and Cirque du Soleil was only a few years old.

“For our winter issue, we gave ourselves one assignment: Break The Internet,” wrote Paper.

By the 1950s the rapid assignment of gender to an ambiguously gendered infant had become standard.

Consent to an assignment may be given by the president of the company, without formal vote by the directors.

A transfer by the lessee of the whole or a part of his interest for a part of the time is a sublease and not an assignment.

An assignment to one who has an insurable interest as relative, creditor and the like, is always valid.

When an assignment of it is made, the assignee may sue in his own name for rent accruing after the assignment.

In some states statutes forbid the assignment of such policies for the benefit of creditors.

Related Words

Words related to assignment are not direct synonyms, but are associated with the word assignment . Browse related words to learn more about word associations.

noun as in matter or business to be taken care of; happening activity

• circumstance
• office function
• responsibility
• transaction
• undertaking

noun as in arrangement for meeting; prearranged meeting

• consultation

noun as in job, position of responsibility

• officeholder
• representative

noun as in allocation, setting aside

• setting apart

Viewing 5 / 50 related words

On this page you'll find 85 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to assignment, such as: appointment, chore, drill, duty, homework, and job.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

Understanding Assignments

What this handout is about.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.

Basic beginnings

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :

• Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
• Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

Assignment formats

Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.

An Overview of Some Kind

The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:

“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”

The Task of the Assignment

Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)

“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”

Additional Material to Think about

Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.

“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”

These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:

“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”

Technical Details

These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.

“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”

The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.

Interpreting the assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:

Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Who is your audience.

• What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

• What are the absolute rules of the paper?

Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that they will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.

• define —give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning
• describe —provide details about the subject by answering question words (such as who, what, when, where, how, and why); you might also give details related to the five senses (what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell)
• explain —give reasons why or examples of how something happened
• illustrate —give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject
• summarize —briefly list the important ideas you learned about the subject
• trace —outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form
• research —gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you have found

Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.

• compare —show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different)
• contrast —show how two or more things are dissimilar
• apply—use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation
• cause —show how one event or series of events made something else happen
• relate —show or describe the connections between things

Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.

• assess —summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something
• prove, justify —give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth
• evaluate, respond —state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons
• support —give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe)
• synthesize —put two or more things together that have not been put together in class or in your readings before; do not just summarize one and then the other and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together that runs all the way through the paper
• analyze —determine how individual parts create or relate to the whole, figure out how something works, what it might mean, or why it is important
• argue —take a side and defend it with evidence against the other side

More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

• What kinds of textbooks or coursepack did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?
• In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove their point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?
• What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.
• How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, they still have to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

• Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know? Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.
• The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and they already know everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point.

You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .

The Grim Truth

With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .

What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality they expect.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .

Technical details about the assignment

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.

Tricks that don’t work

Your instructors are not fooled when you:

• spend more time on the cover page than the essay —graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper.
• use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length —these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
• use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material . Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material, and turning in the same paper for more than one course may constitute an Honor Code violation . Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
• get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question . Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Definition of assignment noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

Definitions on the go

Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

assignment (n.)

late 14c., "an order, request, directive," from Old French assignement "(legal) assignment (of dower, etc.)," from Late Latin assignamentum , noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin assignare / adsignare "to allot, assign, award" (see assign ). The meaning "appointment to office" is mid-15c.; that of "a task assigned (to someone), commission" is by 1848.

Entries linking to assignment

c. 1300, "to transfer, convey, bequeath (property); appoint (to someone a task to be done); order, direct (someone to do something); fix, settle, determine; appoint or set (a time); indicate, point out," from Old French assigner "assign, set (a date, etc.); appoint legally; allot" (13c.), from Latin assignare / adsignare "to mark out, to allot by sign, assign, award," from ad "to" (see ad- ) + signare "make a sign," from signum "identifying mark, sign" (see sign (n.)). Its original use was in legal transfers of personal property. Related: Assigned ; assigning .

Trends of assignment

More to explore, share assignment.

updated on September 28, 2022

Dictionary entries near assignment

assignation

assimilable

assimilation

assimilationist

assimilative

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Essays: task words

Written Assignments

Explore what different task words mean and how they apply to your assignments

You'll need to understand what your assignments are asking you to do throughout your studies. Your assessments use 'task words' that explain what you need to do in your work.  

Task words are the words or phrases in a brief that tell you what to do. Common examples of task words are 'discuss', 'evaluate', 'compare and contrast', and 'critically analyse'. These words are used in assessment marking criteria and will showcase how well you've answered the question.

None of these words have a fixed meaning. Your lecturers may have specific definitions for your subject or task so you should make sure you have a good idea of what these terms mean in your field. You can check this by speaking to your lecturer, checking your course handbook and reading your marking criteria carefully.

Task words and descriptions

• Account for : Similar to ‘explain’ but with a heavier focus on reasons why something is or is not the way it is.
• Analyse : This term has the widest range of meanings according to the subject. Make a justified selection of some of the essential features of an artefact, idea or issue. Examine how these relate to each other and to other ideas, in order to help better understand the topic. See ideas and problems in different ways, and provide evidence for those ways of seeing them. 
• Assess : This has very different meanings in different disciplines. Measure or evaluate one or more aspect of something (for example, the effectiveness, significance or 'truth' of something). Show in detail the outcomes of these evaluations.
• Compare : Show how two or more things are similar.
• Compare and contrast : Show similarities and differences between two or more things.
• Contrast : Show how two or more things are different.
• Critically analyse : As with analysis, but questioning and testing the strength of your and others’ analyses from different perspectives. This often means using the process of analysis to make the whole essay an objective, reasoned argument for your overall case or position.
• Critically assess : As with “assess”, but emphasising your judgments made about arguments by others, and about what you are assessing from different perspectives. This often means making the whole essay a reasoned argument for your overall case, based on your judgments.
• Critically evaluate : As with 'evaluate', but showing how judgments vary from different perspectives and how some judgments are stronger than others. This often means creating an objective, reasoned argument for your overall case, based on the evaluation from different perspectives.
• Define : Present a precise meaning. 
• Describe : Say what something is like. Give its relevant qualities. Depending on the nature of the task, descriptions may need to be brief or the may need to be very detailed.
• Discuss : Provide details about and evidence for or against two or more different views or ideas, often with reference to a statement in the title. Discussion often includes explaining which views or ideas seem stronger.
• Examine : Look closely at something. Think and write about the detail, and question it where appropriate.
• Explain : Give enough description or information to make something clear or easy to understand.
• Explore : Consider an idea or topic broadly, searching out related and/or particularly relevant, interesting or debatable points.
• Evaluate : Similar to “assess”, this often has more emphasis on an overall judgement of something, explaining the extent to which it is, for example, effective, useful, or true. Evaluation is therefore sometimes more subjective and contestable than some kinds of pure assessment.
• Identify : Show that you have recognised one or more key or significant piece of evidence, thing, idea, problem, fact, theory, or example.
• Illustrate : Give selected examples of something to help describe or explain it, or use diagrams or other visual aids to help describe or explain something.
• Justify : Explain the reasons, usually “good” reasons, for something being done or believed, considering different possible views and ideas.
• Outline : Provide the main points or ideas, normally without going into detail.
• Summarise : This is similar to 'outline'. State, or re-state, the most important parts of something so that it is represented 'in miniature'. It should be concise and precise.
• State : Express briefly and clearly. 

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Opinion ‘Salacious’ and other words that don’t quite mean what people think

Certain words — “coruscating,” “pulchritude,” “bemused” — don’t mean what many people think they do.

Benjamin Dreyer, the former executive managing editor and copy chief at Random House, is the author of “ Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style .”

If there’s anything the world learned regarding the testimony of adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York, it’s that her story was salacious . Daniels was “the bringer of salacious detail” ( New York Times ), she provided “salacious testimony” ( The Post ) and listeners whispered “about a particularly salacious detail” ( NBC News ).

But was it indeed salacious? Our friends at Merriam-Webster say that the word means “arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination.” That doesn’t sound to me like what was going on in the courtroom. Was the testimony explicit? Sure. Lurid, most definitely. Depressingly squalid, you bet. But not, I’d say, salacious.

The disconnect was just another example of what I have long thought of as Redefinition by Misapprehended Inference. It’s the means by which numerous people repeatedly hear or see a word used in a perfectly standard context but then misunderstand, a little or a lot, what was in fact meant, and then carry that misapprehension forward, contributing to its widespread use.

That’s how repeated references, across many years, to “coruscating wit” have led to the increasingly common impression that “coruscating” means something like “direly and viciously critical” — in part because what is wit if it isn’t wielded to insult and put down? (sigh) — and also, certainly, because the word literally looks as if it means corrosive and scathing, with a side order of excoriating.

But what does “coruscating” actually mean ? Sparkling.

Just that. Simply: sparkling.

Or it’s the means by which the sight of the phrase “feminine pulchritude” has led to the notion — based, I presume, on the tastes of a reasonable portion of the American population — that “pulchritude” is a fancy way of saying buxomness, when all the word means is beauty .

Now, if you’re of the school that subscribes to the notion that all words mean what some people think they mean — a school in which I never enrolled — then I’ve probably already lost you. You’re welcome to use “bemused” to mean wryly amused , as if wearing a bow tie and sipping a martini , “nonplussed” to mean cool as a cucumber and “penultimate” to mean wow, like, ultimate to the max, dude , when what they truly (pardon me: traditionally) mean is, respectively, “confused and bewildered,” “unsure and perplexed” and “second to last.” (There’s also “antepenultimate,” referring not to your dad’s wonderful sister, but meaning “the one that comes before second to last.”)

As to “salacious,” then, I can only imagine that hearing countless novels and movies (have you seen Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” ?) referred to as salacious might lead one to guiltily assume that anything sexual, even if it’s grimly mercenary and barely consensual, can be described as salacious.

And yet: One of the upsides to there being far more words in the English language than any of us can make use of is that, if one truly delves, one can find the word that means precisely what one wants and needs it to mean, rather than nearly what one means — or not even vaguely what one means.

All you have to do is look (it up).

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Meaning of assign in English

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assign verb [T] ( CHOOSE )

• Every available officer will be assigned to the investigation .
• The textbooks were assigned by the course director .
• Part of the group was assigned to clear land mines .
• Each trainee is assigned a mentor who will help them learn more about the job .
• We were assigned an interpreter for the duration of our stay .
• accommodate
• accommodate someone with something
• administration
• arm someone with something
• hand something down
• hand something in
• hand something out
• hand something over
• reassignment

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

assign verb [T] ( SEND )

• She was assigned to the Paris office .
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It's more important to stop the fighting than whether to call wars genocide | Opinion

T oday, the word "genocide" is the one dreadful concept on the minds of many well-meaning people of conscience. Truly, talking about genocide has gotten many people into all kinds of trouble. Presidents of some of the most prestigious universities have given up their jobs over this word. More plebeian members have gotten arrested for the overt angst about it.

First, what is genocide? Many people who are troubled with the three big wars that are ongoing today are tempted to associate those killed in these conflicts as victims of genocide. However, genocide has a particular historical context and legal meaning. Obviously, as a mere word, genocide is a composite of "geno" and "cide" which roughly can be traced to the Greek and Latin words meaning the "killing of a people." Today, the Oxford English Dictionary defines genocide as "the  deliberate  killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of  destroying  that nation or group."

The word was introduced into modern usage in 1944 by the international lawyer Raphael Lemkim. This was a time when the Allies were confident of victory against the Axis powers, i.e. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, and were thinking and talking about legal consequences for the leaders of these two countries responsible for starting the war and committing atrocities during the war. 

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Ironically, as it turned out in history, no war leaders from Germany and Japan, as a matter of application of international law, were brought to court, tried, and convicted of genocide. Even so, historians and other scholars routinely talk about the Holocaust as genocide. Wikipedia describes the Holocaust as the "genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population." However, the atrocities of the Nazis were not limited to Jews, but many people in both Western and Eastern Europe including Russia, were systematically murdered. A parallel genocide was carried by the Japanese armed forces against their neighbors in Asia. 

It was only in 1948, the year Israel was established as a modern nation state, that genocide became part of international law through the United Nations Genocide Convention. A small number of individuals have been convicted in the decades that followed. Fortunately, the world has never suffered another war of such magnitude, and the people convicted of genocide are from mostly smaller countries in Africa (Rwanda and Ethiopia), Asia (Cambodia), Balkan Europe (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Central America (Guatemala) and the Middle East (Iraq). Unlike Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo, their identities remain largely unknown to the world.

At this moment, three major wars are raging in the world − the civil war in Sudan (estimated two million killed), the Russian invasion of Ukraine (estimated 200,000 killed), and the Hamas-Israel war (estimated 35,000 killed). Only Israel has been accused by South Africa and Colombia in the International Court of Justice of the crime of genocide. The trouble with thinking and talking about genocide is that the accused must first be arrested and then be proven guilty of the "the  deliberate  killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of  destroying  that nation or group." It may be relatively easy to show that the pervasive killing of unarmed civilians with modern weapons of war is always deliberate, but it is an entirely different hurdle to prove "the aim of destroying that nation or group."

If Hitler were brought to trial today, the prosecutor should be able to show that Hitler and other Nazi leaders had planned and carried out a system of mass murder directed primarily at Jews that included death camps disguised as labor camps, gas chambers and ovens, all engineered to kill and dispose of millions of victims. However as noted, leaders of less technological advanced nations have actually been convicted of genocide − a total of two million people were killed in agrarian labor camps by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge armed with AK-47s and one million people in Rwanda died from gunfire and household machetes.

While the world has not witnessed another deliberate system of destroying a nation or group of people of the magnitude of the Holocaust, the three ongoing wars are troubling. The potential of more deaths from munitions, hunger and disease is ever-present. Perhaps, rather than attempting to pass the judgment of genocide, the world must make every human effort to first stop the fighting and provide for the immediate needs of the survivors and the reconstruction of their communities thereafter.

Charleston “C. K.” Wang is a resident of Silverton and a Cincinnati attorney .

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: It's more important to stop the fighting than whether to call wars genocide | Opinion

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What did ICJ ruling mean in South Africa's genocide case against Israel?

The UN's top court is hearing Israel's response to a case brought by South Africa seeking an emergency halt to its offensive in Rafah.

South Africa has also accused Israel of genocide in the Gaza war.

Israel, which has called South Africa's case "wholly unfounded" and "morally repugnant", responded on Friday accusing South Africa of bringing "biased and false claims".

The words of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have been subject to intense scrutiny since South Africa brought its case and it’s centred around the use of the word “plausible” in the ruling.

In January, the ICJ delivered an interim judgement - and one key paragraph from the ruling drew the most attention: “In the Court’s view, the facts and circumstances... are sufficient to conclude that at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection are plausible.”

This was interpreted by many, including some legal commentators, to mean that the court had concluded that the claim that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza was “plausible”.

This interpretation spread quickly, appearing in UN press releases, statements from campaign groups and many media outlets, including the BBC.

In April, however, Joan Donoghue, the president of the ICJ at the time of that ruling, said in a BBC interview that this was not what the court had ruled.

Rather, she said, the purpose of the ruling was to declare that South Africa had a right to bring its case against Israel and that Palestinians had “plausible rights to protection from genocide” - rights which were at a real risk of irreparable damage.

The judges had stressed they did not need to say for now whether a genocide had occurred but concluded that some of the acts South Africa complained about, if they were proven, could fall under the United Nations’ Convention on Genocide.

Let’s look at the background of the case and how the legal dispute unfolded.

The ICJ was set up to deal with disputes between the nations of the world relating to international law.

That means laws that are agreed between nations, such as the Genocide Convention, a key measure agreed after World War Two to try to prevent such mass slaughter again.

Last December, South Africa launched an attempt at the ICJ to prove that, in its view, Israel was committing genocide in relation to how it was perpetrating the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

It alleged that the way Israel had prosecuted the war was “genocidal in nature” because, according to the South African case, there was an intention to “destroy Palestinians in Gaza”. Israel absolutely rejected these allegations, saying the entire case misrepresented what was happening on the ground.

South Africa would need to show the court clear and hard evidence of an alleged plan to commit genocide. Israel, for its part, would have a right to examine those claims one by one and argue that its actions, in a dreadful urban war, were legitimate self-defence against Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by dozens of countries. That full case could take years to prepare and argue.

So South Africa asked the ICJ judges to first issue “provisional measures”.

That’s the ICJ’s term for a court injunction - an order from a judge to freeze a situation, to prevent any harm being done, before a final court finding can be reached.

The court was asked to order Israel to take steps to “protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people”.

Over two days lawyers for both countries argued over whether Palestinians in Gaza had rights that the court needs to protect.

The ruling, to which 17 judges contributed (with some of them disagreeing), came on 26 January.

“At this stage of the proceedings, the Court is not called upon to determine definitively whether the rights which South Africa wishes to see protected exist,” said the ICJ.

“It need only decide whether the rights claimed by South Africa, and for which it is seeking protection, are plausible.

“In the Court’s view, the facts and circumstances... are sufficient to conclude that at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection are plausible.”

Having decided that Palestinians in Gaza had plausible rights under the Genocide convention, it concluded that they were at real risk of irreparable damage - and Israel should take steps to prevent genocide from occurring while these critical issues remain in question.

The court did not rule whether Israel had committed genocide - but did its wording mean that it was convinced there was a risk of that happening? This is where the dispute over what the court actually meant then took off.

In April, some 600 British lawyers including four former Supreme Court justices, signed a letter to the UK Prime Minister, asking him to stop arms sales to Israel and referring to “a plausible risk of genocide”.

That triggered a counter-letter from UK Lawyers For Israel (UKLFI). The 1,300-strong group said the ICJ had only ruled that Gaza Palestinians had a plausible right to be protected from genocide - in other words, that it had been dealing with a complex and somewhat abstract legal argument.

The dispute continued in more letters and interpretations.

Many in the first group described UKLFI’s interpretation as “empty wordplay”. The court, they argued, cannot have been solely concerned with an academic question - because the stakes were far higher than that.

And, of all places, the debate crystallised in legal sparring before a UK parliamentary committee, debating the question of arms exports to Israel.

Lord Sumption, a former UK Supreme Court justice, told the committee: “I think it is being suggested [in the UKLFI letter] that all that the ICJ was doing was accepting, as a matter of abstract law, that the inhabitants of Gaza had a right not to be subjected to genocide. I have to say that I regard that proposition as barely arguable.”

Not so, responded Natasha Hausdorff of UK Lawyers for Israel.

“I respectfully insist that reading a finding of plausible risk that Israel is committing genocide disregards the Court’s unambiguous statements,” she replied.

A day later, Joan Donoghue - now retired from the ICJ - appeared on the BBC’s HARDtalk programme and explicitly tried to end the debate by setting out what the court had done.

“It did not decide - and this is something where I'm correcting what's often said in the media... that the claim of genocide was plausible,” said the judge.

“It did emphasise in the order that there was a risk of irreparable harm to the Palestinian right to be protected from genocide. But the shorthand that often appears, which is that there's a plausible case of genocide, isn't what the court decided.”

Whether there is any evidence of such terrible harm is a question the court is far from deciding.

UN's top court says Israel must prevent genocide

What is the genocide case against Israel?

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Maxim tsyplakov has made his decision of who to join.

• May 17, 2024

Ok buckle up and get ready to know who Tsyplakov is. As Maxim Tsyplakov signs in the NHL, his team new team, the New York Islanders , will get an instant boost to their lineup for 2024-2025. Tsyplakov has played in the KHL for seven years, and continuously progressed through the ranks. When he was given the opportunity for an increased role this past year playing for Spartak Moscow, he took advantage.

One of the Top Non-NHL Players Signs

The contract that Maxim Tsyplakov signs is a one-year deal , and will maintain RFA status at its expiry. It is worth a cap hit of $950K but has an additional $1M as performance bonuses.

In 2023-24, Tsyplakov emerged as a top NHL prospect currently outside of the NHL. In his six previous years in the KHL, his career-high was ten goals. That only came in 2022-23, where he also added 15 assists. Therefore, he began to emerge as a scoring threat. At 6’3″, 190 lbs, he can inject some size into the lineup, so he always had that working for him previous in Russia. However, this year he really put it all together. He scored 31 goals and added 16 assists for 47 points in 65 career games. Furthermore, he actually played in the World Junior Championships once upon a time in 2018.

What Will the Russian Right Winger Mean to the Islanders Lineup

This will inject a nice scoring addition into the lineup. After his big year in the KHL, he should be able to carry his momentum to the NHL. We have seen it by the likes of Kirill Kaprizov or Artem Zub in recent memory. Although their success might have been more sustained leading up to his NHL signing, Tsyplakov has done excellent in his own right. To be able to progress as steadily as he has, is admirable. He is fully deserving of his shot in the NHL, and given his style, should fit in nicely. The Islanders play a responsible game, with some talent sprinkled in. Look for Tsyplakov’s skillset to fit in nicely going forward.

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