Word
attribute
Meanings
a quality or feature that someone or something has
to say that something was caused by a particular person or thing
a piece of information about an object in a system, such as a category, property, or setting
Definition
An attribute is a quality or feature that someone or something has.
An attribute is a characteristic, quality, or feature of a person, thing, or system. People often use it to describe what something is like or what it includes. In more formal writing, it can also mean the act of saying that something was caused by a particular person or factor.
Examples
- Patience is an attribute that helps her manage tense negotiations without escalating conflict.
- The team decided to attribute the sudden drop in performance to unclear priorities rather than lack of effort.
- In the dataset, each image has an attribute that marks whether it was taken indoors or outdoors.
- Curiosity is an attribute he values in new hires because it drives careful questions and continuous learning.
Common mistake
Learners often confuse the noun and verb forms and say “attribute to” when they mean the noun (e.g., “an attribute to leadership” instead of “an attribute of leadership”).
More at C1 level
- ubiquitous Present, appearing, or found everywhere at the same time.
- xenophobia Xenophobia is a strong dislike or fear of people from other countries or cultures.
- genocide Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular group in order to …
- conundrum A conundrum is a confusing and difficult problem to solve.
- pretentious Trying to seem more important, intelligent, or cultured than you really are.
More nouns
- fascism Fascism is an extreme right-wing political system with a powerful dictator, strong nationalism, and…
- gaslighting Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that makes someone doubt their own memory, judg…
- narcissist A narcissist is someone who is excessively self-centered and craves admiration while showing little…
- empathy Empathy is the ability to understand and share another person’s feelings.
- metaphor A metaphor is a way of describing something by saying it is something else to create a clear image …