What does appoint mean?
To appoint is to formally select someone for a position, duty, or office, usually by a person or body holding the authority to do so. A company's board may appoint a new director, a government may appoint judges or ambassadors, and a committee chair may appoint members to subcommittees. The verb also has a second, older sense: to fix or establish a specific time or place, as when people gather at 'the appointed hour.' Appoint is distinctly formal in tone, appearing most often in legal, governmental, business, and institutional language, and it conveys that the choice was made deliberately and by legitimate authority rather than by popular vote. The word traces back through Old French apointer to the Latin punctum, meaning 'point,' so its core image is of literally pointing someone out for a role. Related forms include appointment, appointee, and appointed, all common in everyday professional vocabulary.
verbTo appoint is to officially assign someone to a job, position, or office, or to formally set a time or date for something.
- To officially choose or assign someone to a job, role, or office, typically by a person or body with authority.
- To fix or set a time, date, or place for a meeting or event (as in 'a day appointed for the hearing').
"The board appointed her as chief financial officer after a unanimous vote."
"The president appointed two new justices to the Supreme Court."
"They met at the appointed hour outside the courthouse."
When you 'appoint' someone, you're literally 'pointing at them' — the word comes straight from the Latin punctum, the same root that gives us 'point.'
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of appoint
Appoint derives from Old French apointer, meaning to arrange or settle, which itself traces back to the Late Latin appunctare, formed from the Latin punctum ('point'). It entered English in the late Middle English period, initially carrying senses of arranging or settling matters before settling into its modern meanings of assigning someone to office and fixing a set time. Its cognates include point, pointed, and related words built on the same Latin root punctum.
Related word forms
How appoint is actually used
Appoint carries a formal, official register — it implies authority on the part of the one doing the appointing and typically appears in legal, governmental, corporate, and ceremonial contexts. It usually contrasts with election: officials are appointed rather than voted into office. The passive sense of setting a fixed time ('the appointed hour') is somewhat literary but still current.
Easily confused with appoint
Anoint means to apply oil or a sacred substance to someone, often in a religious ceremony, whereas appoint means to assign someone to an official position.