DictionaryAI

appoint

verb
USuh-POYNT/əˈpɔɪnt/

Formsappoints, appointing, appointed

6 meanings of appoint

Practice

  1. 1
    give a jobverbtransitive
    To name someone to a post or official role.

    The board voted to appoint a new director of operations.

    The governor appointed three judges to the state court.

    UsageUsually appoint someone (as) chair, appoint someone to a board or post, or appoint someone to do a job.

    Similarname, nominate, assign, designate

    Oppositedismiss

    Note

    In the King James Bible of 1611, Aaron and his sons are told to go in and appoint the Kohathites "every one to his service and to his burden," giving each man his own task in carrying the sacred objects of the tabernacle.

  2. 2
    time or placeverbtransitive
    To set or fix a time or place for something, such as a meeting, by authority or agreement.

    The committee will appoint a time for the next hearing.

    The two sides appointed a neutral location for the talks.

    UsageMost often seen as the participle: the appointed time, at the appointed hour, on the appointed day.

    Similarset, fix, schedule, arrange

  3. 3
    furnishverbtransitive
    To furnish or equip a place, or sometimes a person, with everything needed.

    The guest cottage was beautifully appointed, with a stone fireplace, oak floors, and a deep soaking tub.

    The firm spent a fortune to appoint the lobby with marble and brass.

    UsageMostly as a past participle after an adverb: beautifully appointed, well appointed, elegantly appointed.

    Note

    D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) has a stucco hall "very elegantly appointed", and the travel guide Germany for Dummies calls a hotel "beautifully appointed". The adverb carries the judgment; appointed on its own says only that the fittings are complete.

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To establish or ordain something firmly by decree or command.
    Thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint.
    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version
    When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version
    Note

    An obsolete use in which what gets appointed is a law or an order of things, not a person or an hour. The King James Bible of 1611 has God appointing "the foundations of the earth", and servants ready to do whatever the king "shall appoint". Read it as ordain or establish in older texts. In new writing, those words do the job without suggesting naming someone to a post.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Appoint had an obsolete transitive sense meaning to ordain or establish by decree or command. en.wiktionary.org
    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikipedia.org
    • Proverbs 8:29 describes God appointing the foundations of the earth. en.wikisource.org
    • In 2 Samuel 15:15, the king's servants declare themselves ready to do what the king shall appoint. en.wikisource.org
  2. 5
    verbobsoleteintransitive
    To resolve or determine upon a course of action.
    For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel.
    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version
    He had preached twice on the Lord's day, he preached also on Monday, and had appointed to do the same on Tuesday, but died that morning.
    1833, The Miscellaneous Works of the Rev. Matthew Henry
    Note

    An obsolete intransitive use, followed by a to-infinitive: to appoint to do something was to resolve to do it. It lasted well into the nineteenth century. In Trollope's The Kellys and the O'Kellys (1848), Lord Ballindine drives over to Dunmore "as he had appointed to do". It is easy to hear this as arranging a meeting, but the sense is closer to having decided or planned.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Appoint had an obsolete intransitive sense meaning resolve or determine, attested with a to-infinitive; this supports the note's interpretation. en.wiktionary.org
    • Anthony Trollope wrote The Kellys and the O'Kellys. en.wikipedia.org
    • The novel was first published in 1848. trollopesociety.org
    • The construction survived into the nineteenth century: the novel's narrator uses the quoted words about Lord Ballindine driving to Dunmore. gutenberg.org
  3. 6
    verb
    To determine how property is to be disposed of by naming the person who is to take or use it.

Practice

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Origin

Latin ad ("to") plus punctum ("a point") formed Late Latin appunctō ("to bring back to the point, fix the point in an agreement"), the likely source of Old French apointier ("to prepare, arrange, place"), which Middle English borrowed as apointen.