Other forms: assessments
An assessment is a careful judgement of how good something is, how much there is of it, or what it will cost. A risk assessment, a needs assessment, an honest assessment of the situation.
It is the standard word in education, healthcare, insurance and social care, and in each of those it names a formal process with paperwork behind it — which is what distinguishes it from an opinion. In schools it is the general word for how learning is measured, covering tests, coursework and observation, and continuous assessment is the phrase for measuring across a year rather than at the end of one. The verb is assess, and the person is an assessor.
1nounassessmentA careful judgement of the quality, value or amount of something.
“The surveyor's assessment came in a week later.”
synonyms: evaluation, appraisal, judgement
2nounprocessA formal process for measuring what somebody knows or needs.
“Every pupil has an assessment at the end of the term.”
3nounofficialAn official calculation of how much is owed.
“The tax assessment arrived in March.”
assessment is a judgement.
Proto-Indo-European
*sed-
Medieval Latin
assessare
Old French
assesser
Middle English
assessen
English
assess
English, today
assessment
Built from
From assess + -ment. assess comes from Middle English assessen, from Old French assesser, from Medieval Latin assessare, from assessus. From Middle English assessen, from Old French assesser, from Medieval Latin assessare, originally the frequentative of Latin assessus, past participle of assideo, from ad (“to, towards, at”) + sedeō (“sit; settle down”). Cognate with Spanish asentar (“to settle”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA