# attribute

Pronunciation: say "AT-ri-byoot" US /ˈæt.ɹɪˌbjut/, UK /ˈæt.ɹɪ.bjuːt/

## Noun

1. A characteristic or quality belonging to a person or thing.
   - Simple: A feature or quality that something or someone has.
   - _Patience is an attribute every good teacher needs._
   - _The hiring panel listed the key attributes they wanted in a new manager._
4. An object regarded as typical of a particular person or function, especially as an artistic convention.
   - Simple: An object that stands for a certain person or role, often used in art.
   - _The scales held by the figure are an attribute of Justice._
   - _Medieval painters relied on familiar attributes to identify each saint._
5. A word, such as an adjective, that qualifies or modifies a noun.
   - Simple: A word that describes or adds meaning to a noun.
   - _In the phrase 'tall building,' 'tall' functions as an attribute._
   - _Some languages place attributes after the noun rather than before it._
6. An option or setting that belongs to a particular object.
   - Simple: A setting or piece of information that belongs to an object.
   - _The program reads each object's width attribute before drawing it._
   - _Developers set several attributes when they create a new user account._
7. A semantic marker that can be attached to a method or other code element.
   - Simple: A label you add to code to give it extra meaning.
   - _Developers decorate the class with an attribute that controls serialization._
   - _Several attributes on the method tell the compiler to skip certain checks._
8. Something that is predicated or affirmed of a subject; a quality held to belong to it.
   - Simple: A quality that is said to belong to a subject.
   - _The philosopher argued that mercy is an attribute of a just ruler._
   - _Medieval thinkers debated which attributes could be affirmed of God._

## Verb

Pronunciation: US say "uh-TRIB-yuht" /əˈtɹɪb.(j)ət/; UK say "uh-TRIB-yoot" /əˈtɹɪb.juːt/

2. To assign the ownership or authorship of something to a particular person.
   - Simple: To say that a certain person made or owns something.
   - _Scholars attribute the play to Shakespeare based on its style._
   - _The museum attributed the sculpture to a Renaissance master._
3. To explain something as the result of a given cause or reason.
   - Simple: To explain something as being caused by a particular thing.
   - _Experts attribute the price increase to rising fuel costs._
   - _The report attributed the delay to severe weather._

## Noun

9. A numeric value that represents the colors of part of a screen display. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A number that sets the colors of part of a screen.
   - _The program wrote a new attribute to make the warning blink red._
   - _On those early systems, attributes packed both text and background colors into one byte._

## Origin

From Latin attributus, the past participle of attribuere.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/attribute (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).