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say it: AS-ee
assay is a noun and verb meaning "an appraisal of the state of affairs". It carries 6 recorded senses.
an appraisal of the state of affairs
“they made an assay of the contents”
“a check on its dependability under stress”
a substance that is undergoing an analysis of its components
a written report of the results of an analysis of the composition of some substance
a quantitative or qualitative test of a substance (especially an ore or a drug) to determine its components; frequently used to test for the presence or concentration of infectious agents or antibodies etc.
make an effort or attempt
“He tried to shake off his fears”
“The infant had essayed a few wobbly steps”
“The police attempted to stop the thief”
“He sought to improve himself”
“She always seeks to do good in the world”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for assay come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.