asset

asset [as-et] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for asset on Thesaurus.com noun

1. a useful and desirable thing or quality: Organizational ability is an asset.
2. a single item of ownership having exchange value.
3. assets,
   1. items of ownership convertible into cash; total resources of a person or business, as cash, notes and accounts receivable, securities, inventories, goodwill, fixtures, machinery, or real estate (opposed to liabilities).
   2. Accounting.the items detailed on a balance sheet, especially in relation to liabilities and capital.
   3. all property available for the payment of debts, especially of a bankrupt or insolvent firm or person.
   4. Law.property in the hands of an heir, executor, or administrator, that is sufficient to pay the debts or legacies of a deceased person.

Origin of asset 1525–35; back formation from assets, in phrase have assets, literally, have enough (to pay obligations) Anglo-French, Old French asez enough. See assai1 Related formsas·set·less, adjective Related Words for asset credit, benefit, resource, service, aid, distinction, treasure, blessing, help, boon Examples from the Web for asset Contemporary Examples of asset

First, his credentials: He did international mergers and acquisitions at Lazard, a financial and asset management firm.

Sen. Warren’s Main Street Crusade to Pressure Clinton

Eleanor Clift

January 8, 2015

To be sure, visa restrictions and asset freezes have been announced targeting Putin cronies.

Obama’s Nuclear Summit Aimed to Stop Terrorists. Now Putin’s the Issue.

Christopher Dickey, Jamie Dettmer, Nadette De Visser

March 25, 2014

McCain said he would not be impacted financially by being subject to a visa ban and asset freeze in the Russian Federation.

Exclusive: Russia Will Sanction U.S. Senators

Josh Rogin

March 17, 2014

Even Russian business leaders could be targets for asset freezes and visa bans.

Inside Obama’s Plans to Squeeze Russia

Josh Rogin

March 3, 2014

To a degree, then, the Bernanke years were ones in which asset inequality helped produce greater income inequality.

Bernanke Drop the Mic as He Exits the Fed

Daniel Gross

December 19, 2013

Historical Examples of asset

They all of them have to admit that I’m honest—that’s an asset that nobody can dispute.

Mixed Faces

Roy Norton

What however went first of all or rather vanished was nothing in the nature of an asset.

Chance

Joseph Conrad

Your beauty is as tangible an asset as money would be; but beauty requires money.

Jewel

Clara Louise Burnham

And believe me, he knows whether you are an asset or a liability to his show.

The Art of Stage Dancing

Ned Wayburn

And in the balance she had confidently thrown the asset of my assisting her.

Ainslee’s, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905

Various

British Dictionary definitions for asset asset noun

1. anything valuable or usefulexperience is their main asset See also assets

Word Origin for asset C19: back formation from assets Word Origin and History for asset n.

see assets.

asset in Culture asset

A possession that can be turned into cash to cover liabilities.

Note Commonly, the term denotes anything of value.