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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ASSENT

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pronounce ASSENT:

uh SENT
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connect this word to others:

Assent traces to the Latin verb sentire, which can mean "to think, to feel, to hear, to perceive, or to have an opinion."

It's cousins with words like sense; sensory; scent; sentiment; consent; presentiment; resent; s____ent ("thinking, feeling, and alive, or less literally, aware of things or paying close attention to things"); and even sentences, which, when you think about it, truly are units of thought and opinion. And assent is cousins with its precise opposite, d__sent: "to have or show a different opinion."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)   

definition:

"Assent" has Latin bits that mean, approximately, "to think or feel (the same way) with (someone else)."

We've used it for centuries to mean "to agree, or to express the same feeling or opinion as someone else."

These days, we most often use it in the phrases "Somebody assents" or "Somebody assents to something," meaning they agree to let it happen.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, usually the intransitive kind: "They assented;" "They assented to the suggestion."

Also a noun, the uncountable kind: "They nodded their assent;" "They gave their assent."

Other forms: 

The other verb forms are "assented" and "assenting."

how to use it:

Pick the common, formal word "assent" to strike a serious tone as you talk about people agreeing to things, often slowly, passively, or half-heartedly.

Talk about people assenting to things: "We assented to their suggestion;" "He assented to the plans;" "She assented to the procedure." People can also just plain assent: "They made a suggestion, and we assented."

Or, talk about people giving their assent to something. Or about people getting someone else's assent, or winning it, waiting for it (or not waiting for it), cajoling it out of them and so on. 

We also talk about sounds or gestures of assent: "From the crowd came shouts of assent;" "She gave a slow nod of assent;" "He leaped up in assent."

examples:

"[With gene-editing], scientists hope to alter plants, animals and humans. The value of most applications of the technology has barely been exposed to public review. Unless these editorial aspirations are more inclusively debated, well-intentioned research could move humanity closer to a future it has not assented to and might not want."
 — Sheila Jasanoff and J. Benjamin Hurlbut, Nature, 11 March 2018

 "At once my imagination began to weave ghosts. I did not actually believe in ghosts, but I had been taught that there was a God and I had given a kind of uneasy assent to His existence, and if there was a God, then surely there must be ghosts."
   — Richard Wright, Black Boy, 1947

has this page helped you understand "assent"?

   

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Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "assent" without saying "allow" or "accept."

try it out:

In an episode of Futurama, people wildly violate courtroom protocol, and the judge assents to it. "You're representing both sides in this case?... I'm going to allow this."

(Source)

Similarly, in an episode of Community, "Comparative Religion," when two adults start a fist fight in the middle of an exam, the professor assents to it.

(Source)

With these examples in mind, talk about another situation, real or fictional, that makes you think, "Why the heck did someone assent to this?"




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "The LOL Is In the Details."

I'll give you a vague version of a quote from a funny writer or speaker, then prompt you to liven it up with detail. To see the original quote, scroll all the way down.

Here's an example:

"Don't order any of the faerie food… It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute you’re snacking, the next minute you’re doing something insane."

Snacking on what? Doing what?

You might say, "One minute you’re sampling a mushroom tart, the next minute you’re doing the Macarena."

And the writer's original version was "One minute you're munching on a faerie plum, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head."
— Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, 2007

Try this one today:

"I know that journalism largely consists in reporting the death of people to others who never knew those people were alive."

The death of who, for example?

review this word:

1. The exact opposite of ASSENT is

A. DISSENT: the act of having or showing an opinion that disagrees.
B. INSENSATENESS: the state of being foolish, or heartless, or dead or non-living.
C. SENTENTIOUSNESS: the state of being full of short, wise, overly stuffy statements.

2. From Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games: "A young man, an Avox, stands at attention by the spread. When I ask if I can serve myself, he _____ assent."

A. nods
B. smiles
C. squints




Answers to the review questions:
1. A
2. A

From the game:

Any unique version of the quote that you created is great! Here's the original:

"I know that journalism largely consists in saying ‘Lord Jones Dead’ to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive."
—  G. K. Chesterton, The Wisdom of Father Brown, 1914


a final word:


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I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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