Appoint: Giving Someone a Job, and Fixing a Time to Meet
To appoint someone is to choose them for a position. To appoint a time or place is to fix it in advance, which is where the word appointment comes from.
To appoint is to choose a person for a role, or to decide a time and place in advance. Both senses share one idea: something is fixed by decision rather than left open.
- To choose for a post. *She was appointed head of research.*
- To fix a time or place. *They met at the appointed hour.*
- To equip (older, mostly in appointed). *A well-appointed hotel.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | appoint | They will appoint a successor. |
| Past | appointed | Appointed in March. |
| Noun | appointment | A dental appointment. |
| Person | appointee | The new appointee starts Monday. |
| Adjective | appointed | At the appointed time. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The board appointed her as chief executive.Appoint someone as, or simply appoint someone.
- We arrived at the appointed place.Fixed in advance.
- The flat is comfortably appointed.Equipped and furnished — estate agent English.
Appoint, elect, nominate and hire
- Appoint — chosen by an authority, not by a vote
- Elect — chosen by votes
- Nominate — proposed as a candidate, not yet chosen
- Hire — employed under contract, usually for pay rather than office
From Old French *apointier*, to arrange or settle, from the phrase *a point* — to the point. To appoint something was to bring it to a settled point.
Appointed as or appointed to?
Both work. Appointed as takes the title (*appointed as director*); appointed to takes the body or post (*appointed to the board*).
What is a well-appointed room?
One that is well equipped and furnished. The sense survives almost only in property and hotel descriptions.