verb
impute
im-PYOOT/ˌɪmpjˈut/
Attribute something to a person or thing.
The man imputes blame for the broken vase to the woman.
Etymology
The underlying image is reckoning something into an account. To impute a fault or quality is to charge it to a person, treating it as that person’s responsibility or attribute.
In context
perceivers speciously impute the target with other traits that correlate with the original traits
More examples
- She refuses to impute bad motives to her coworkers.
- Critics impute the film's success to its famous cast.
- The report imputes the error to a faulty sensor.
Forms
impute · imputes · imputed · imputing
imputation noun — The act of attributing something to someone.