Sample Sentences for
attribute
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

attribute as in:  It is an attribute of...

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The spreadsheet has a column to describe the breed of dog and then ten additional columns to indicate attributes of the breeds. For example, the second column has the average full-grown weight.
attributes = characteristics
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    She described his physical attributes.
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    "The fourth essential attribute," the Chief Elder said, "is wisdom."  (source)
    attribute = characteristic
  • •
    AN ATTRIBUTE OF ROSA HUBERMANN: She was a good woman for a crisis.  (source)
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Show 10 more with 2 word variations
  • •
    Each one had specific attributes, weapons, and speed capabilities.  (source)
    attributes = characteristics
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    DNA evolves over time, like everything else in an organism-hands or feet or any other physical attribute.  (source)
    attribute = characteristic
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    Up close, I'm sure their more menacing attributes will be revealed.  (source)
    attributes = characteristics
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    Fairness is a wonderful attribute, Major Anderson.  (source)
    attribute = characteristic
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    Atticus did not drive a dump-truck for the county, he was not the sheriff, he did not farm, work in a garage, or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone. Besides that, he wore glasses. ... With these attributes, however, he would not remain as inconspicuous as we wished him to: that year, the school buzzed with talk about him defending Tom Robinson, none of which was complimentary.  (source)
    attributes = characteristics
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    In Ofuna, this attribute would be a blessing and a terrible curse.  (source)
    attribute = characteristic
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    The mayor then told the gathered crowd of my attributes, slyly mentioning that I was very intelligent and attractive for a Five.  (source)
    attributes = traits
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    His primary attribute, as far as I could tell, was that he had a really nice car.  (source)
    attribute = characteristic
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    Their attributes changed.  (source)
    attributes = characteristics
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    It was a glorious tie, one that could be spotted clear across a room, which I figured was an important attribute.  (source)
    attribute = characteristic
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attribute as in:  I attribute it to...

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    She attributes her success to hard work.
    attributes = gives credit for
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    To what do you attribute the ease with which you complete them?  (source)
    attribute = credit (point to as the cause of)
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    Her mother, inclined at first to attribute her complaints to moping, took a second look at her flushed cheeks and put her to bed.  (source)
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Show 10 more with 8 word variations
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    I had attributed her misery to the morphling withdrawal.  (source)
    attributed = credited (pointed to as the cause of)
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    To what, commander, do you attribute your remarkable success?  (source)
    attribute = credit (point to as the cause of)
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    His wife attributes his death to the judgment of God.  (source)
    attributes = credits (a source for something)
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    There had been a slight, not quite attributable, sense of expectation about the house for the previous week or two, but it remained unmentioned and unacknowledged.  (source)
    attributable = with a known source
    standard suffix: The suffix "-able" means able to be. This is the same pattern you see in words like breakable, understandable, and comfortable.
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    I described Dad's symptoms, attributing them not to my father but to a fictive uncle.  (source)
    attributing = associating (saying they belonged to)
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    It can be something you made up for yourself or something you've read somewhere that means something to you. (If so, don't forget the attribution, please!)  (source)
    attribution = the act of crediting the source of the idea
    standard suffix: The suffix "-tion", converts a verb into a noun that denotes the action or result of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in action, education, and observation.
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    Which is so evident, that even Cicero, (a passionate defender of Liberty,) in a publique pleading, attributeth all Propriety to the Law Civil, "Let the Civill Law," saith he, "be once abandoned, or but negligently guarded, (not to say oppressed,) and there is nothing, that any man can be sure to receive from his Ancestor, or leave to his Children."†  (source)
    standard suffix: Today, the suffix "-th" is replaced by "-s", so that where they said "She attributeth" in older English, today we say "She attributes."
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    It was Alan's death that remained unattributable to anyone, and as much of a mystery to us as to the rest.†  (source)
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unattributable means not and reverses the meaning of attributable. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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    And again, all kinds of powers attributed to it, though I just keep it nice and safe……  (source)
    attributed = credited (pointed to as the cause of something)
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    Whenever anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Snowball.  (source)
    attribute = credit (point to as the cause of)
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