Make Your Point > Archived Issues > IMPUTE

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explore the archives: Latin putāre means to reckon, to consider. It gives us today's impute, which makes sense because imputing things requires reckoning (considering) who or what deserves the blame for them. Putāre also gives us un______ed, meaning "so clear and obvious that everyone considers it true and no one reckons it's wrong." make your point with... "IMPUTE" "Impute" has special meanings in theology and economics, but basically it means "to attribute, to ascribe." You impute bad things to whoever or whatever is doing them or causing them. In other words, when you impute A to B, you're saying that A is a bad quality that B has, or that B deserves the blame for A. Pronunciation: im PYOOT Part of speech: Transitive verb. (Like "eat," "try," and "want," all transitive verbs do something to an object. You eat a banana, try a game, and want a new phone. You impute something to another thing, or impute something to someone.) Other forms: imputed, imputing, imputation, imputable How to use it: Select impute instead of blame when you need to be serious and formal and when you don't want blame's whiny, self-serving tone. Often you impute bad things to the people who do them, have them, or cause them: impute crimes or vicious motives to people, impute racism or intellectual laziness to people, impute work-related injuries to careless employees. You can also impute bad effects to their causes: impute obesity to the ready availability of high-calorie drinks, impute your mistakes to carelessness, impute the bridge's collapse to poor maintenance. You don't have to impute only bad things. You can be neutral or positive; it's simply less common: "Why do we impute our own meaning to a passage of text?" "Why do we impute wisdom to owls?" Use "to" and not "on" with "impute." In other words, be sure to impute things to causes and blame things on causes; don't impute things on causes. examples: He went way over budget on the project, then imputed the overspending to his boss's constant demands for changes. Being kind requires that we impute others' mistakes first to inattention rather than malice. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "impute" means when you can explain it without saying "ascribe" or "charge." try it out: Think of a time you failed or made a mistake. Fill in the blanks: "When I_____, I imputed that (failure/error) to _____." Example: "When I first lost a tutoring client, I imputed that failure to poor communication. Since then I explicitly ask clients what results they want, and then I keep them updated on our progress toward those results." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. This month, we’re playing with anagrams: rearrangements of the letters in a word to form new words. (For example, “care” has two anagrams: “acre” and “race.”) Looking for these makes you a stronger player in other word games. But more importantly, it helps you practice thinking flexibly and methodically. Plus you get to giggle at potential non-words and discover new real words. We’ll work our way from shorter to longer anagrams. And at any point if you wonder why I left out a word you wanted to list, or why I included a word you think isn’t a real one, hold your fire: our authority for this game is ScrabbleWordFinder.org, which draws from a highly inclusive dictionary. Let’s play! From yesterday: What are the 5 anagrams for STOW? Answer: SWOT, TOWS, TWOS, WOST, WOTS. “Swot” is slang for “work or study.” “Wost” is an alternate form of both “west” and “will” that died long ago but still haunts dictionaries; the same goes for “wots,” which is a conjugation of “wot,” an ancient word meaning “to know.” Even if you couldn't define these ancient oddballs, I bet you could still generate them using your sense of possibility. Try this one today: What is the 1 anagram for LUTE? review today's word: 1. A close opposite of IMPUTE is A. EXTRACT B. AGREE C. ABSOLVE 2. We should think twice before imputing _____ to _____. A. negative outcomes .. a failure to perform good-luck rituals B. spotty attendance and poor study habits .. bad grades C. released felons .. discrimination Answers are below. a final word: To be a sponsor and send your own message to readers of this list, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. C 2. A