appointment
Pluralappointments
- 1An arrangement between people to meet at a set time; an engagement.
He arrived ten minutes late for his dentist appointment.
We scheduled an appointment for the following Tuesday afternoon.
Similarmeeting, engagement
- 2The assignment of a person by an official to perform a duty, such as the naming of a judge to a court.
The governor's appointment of three new commissioners drew sharp criticism.
His appointment as ambassador required confirmation by the Senate.
Similarnomination, designation, selection, naming
Note
The official version of the general act of appointing, in which an office-holder assigns someone to a duty. The appointing authority usually comes first, as an adjective or a possessive: a presidential appointment, the governor's appointment. That framing puts the stress on who made the choice. The classic case is a judge named to a court, where the appointment shapes the court as much as the career.
- 3The act of naming someone to fill an office or other position of trust.
The board delayed the appointment of a permanent director for months.
Public reaction to her appointment was largely favorable.
Similardesignation
Oppositedismissal
Note
The event sense, the one that happens on a particular day. It comes through Middle English appoyntement from Old French appointement, which is simply appoint plus -ment. The new holder is usually introduced with as: his appointment as treasurer. Keep it apart from the office itself. An appointment in this sense is made once and then is over, while the post it creates may be held for years.
- 4The state of having been appointed to a service or office; also, the position to which one is appointed.
The diplomatic appointment came with a residence in the capital.
He resigned his appointment soon after the scandal broke.
Note
Here the word names the post rather than the choosing. The title can follow of with no article: the appointment of treasurer means the position of treasurer. Compare the appointment of a treasurer, which is the act of picking one. Because it is something held, it pairs with verbs like hold, take up and resign.
- 5The exercise of a power of designating who shall enjoy an estate or specific property; also, the legal instrument by which the designation is made.
The appointment directed the remaining assets to the surviving spouse.
By her appointment, the heirloom collection passed to the museum.
Note
Property law uses the word for two things at once. It means the exercise of a power of appointment, the right to decide who will enjoy an estate or a particular piece of property. It also means the document that carries out that choice. Legal writing can therefore speak of making an appointment and of reading one. Context shows whether the act or the instrument is meant.
- 6A stipulation or agreement; the act of settling something by mutual consent.
The terms of the sale were fixed by appointment between the parties.
They honored the appointment they had made concerning the boundary line.
Similaragreement, arrangement, understanding, stipulation
- 7Furnishings, fittings, or equipment, especially those that furnish a room, residence, or vessel.
The yacht's appointments included teak decks and polished brass fittings.
The drawing room's appointments had been chosen with great care.
Similarfurnishings, fittings, fixtures, accoutrements
Note
A plural word for the fittings and furnishings that make a place what it is. Dickens describes a house whose appointments were "old-fashioned and grim," and Saki dismisses an eating-house's as "primitive" while praising its beer and Schnitzel. It suits a writer who wants to judge a room's character as a whole rather than list its chairs and tables.
- 8A decree, direction, or established order; an ordinance fixed by authority or custom.
The sabbath was observed according to ancient appointment.
They believed the harvest festival followed a sacred appointment.
Similardecree, ordinance, custom, law
Note
Religious language uses it for what has been ordained rather than arranged: the divine appointments a believer submits to, or a rite performed according to the appointment of the priests, as the Holy Bible of 1611 has it. It sits naturally after according to and submit to, and pairs with divine. Unlike the sense of mutual agreement, nothing here is negotiated. The order comes from above and is kept.
- 9An honorary part or exercise, such as an oration, assigned to a distinguished student at a public college exhibition.
He took great pride in the appointment to give the Latin address at commencement.
Her appointment as class orator capped four years of hard study.
Note
An American college usage in which the word names an honor rather than an engagement. A student who was "to have an appointment" had been given a part, such as an oration, at a public exhibition. That is easily misread today as a scheduled meeting, so context needs to show that a distinction is meant.
Less common meaning
- 10The allowance, stipend, or salary paid to a public officer for holding office.
Each officer received his appointment from the public funds twice a year.
The clerk's appointment fell well short of his expenses that year.
Note
An obsolete money sense: the allowance paid to a public officer. It names the pay that went with an office, not the act of filling it. Modern readers will not take it this way, so it belongs only in historical writing. Ordinary prose would say salary or stipend.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English appoyntement, borrowed from Old French appointement, made up of 'appoint' plus the suffix '-ment'.