Evaluate

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɨˈvaljʊeɪt/

Definitions

1. To assess or determine the value, quality, or significance of something through careful examination and judgment
2. To determine the worth, effectiveness, or significance of an item by analyzing its attributes and making informed judgments
3. To assess the quality or importance of an entity through systematic investigation and critical thinking

Etymology: "Evaluate" is a back-formation: English speakers first had the noun "evaluation," and the verb was later created by removing the "-ation" ending, the way "edit" was made from "editor" or "burgle" from "burglar." The noun "evaluation" comes from the French "évaluation," which in turn is built on "évaluer," meaning to estimate the worth of something, and it traces back to Latin roots meaning "to find the value of." Because the verb grew out of the noun rather than the other way round, it inherited the noun's sense of putting a price or worth on something. The word's history is therefore a reversal: the noun came first, and the verb followed as a shortcut for the same idea. Its modern meaning, to judge value carefully, keeps that original focus on assigning worth.

Synonyms: assess, appraise, judge, estimate, rate

Antonyms: ignore, disregard, neglect, overlook, dismiss