Library / English Dictionary

ASSAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

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.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("assay" is a kind of...):

run; test; trial (the act of testing something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assay"):

ELISA; enzyme-linked-immunosorbent serologic assay (an assay that relies on an enzymatic conversion reaction and is used to detect the presence of specific substances (such as enzymes or viruses or antibodies or bacteria))

immunohistochemistry (an assay that shows specific antigens in tissues by the use of markers that are either fluorescent dyes or enzymes (such as horseradish peroxidase))

diagnostic assay; diagnostic test (an assay conducted for diagnostic purposes)

bio-assay; bioassay (appraisal of the biological activity of a substance by testing its effect on an organism and comparing the result with some agreed standard)

Derivation:

assay (analyze (chemical substances))

Sense 2

Meaning:

An appraisal of the state of affairs

Example:

a check on its dependability under stress

Synonyms:

assay; check

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("assay" is a kind of...):

appraisal; assessment (the classification of someone or something with respect to its worth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assay"):

countercheck; double check (something that checks the correctness of a previous check)

Apgar score (an assessment of the physical condition of a newborn infant; involves heart rate and muscle tone and respiratory effort and color and reflex responsiveness)

paternity test (a test based on blood groups to determine whether a particular man could be the biological father of a particular child; negative results prove he was not the father but positive results show only that he could be)

stress test (a test measuring how a system functions when subjected to controlled amounts of stress)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A written report of the results of an analysis of the composition of some substance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("assay" is a kind of...):

report; study; written report (a written document describing the findings of some individual or group)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A substance that is undergoing an analysis of its components

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("assay" is a kind of...):

substance (a particular kind or species of matter with uniform properties)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Analyze (chemical substances)

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "assay" is one way to...):

analyse; analyze; canvass; examine; study (consider in detail and subject to an analysis in order to discover essential features or meaning)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assay"):

bioassay (subject to a bio-assay)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

assay (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.)

assayer (an analyst who assays (performs chemical tests on) metals)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make an effort or attempt

Example:

She always seeks to do good in the world

Synonyms:

assay; attempt; essay; seek; try

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "assay" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assay"):

pick up the gauntlet; take a dare (be dared to do something and attempt it)

fight; struggle (make a strenuous or labored effort)

give it a try; have a go (make an attempt at something)

grope (search blindly or uncertainly)

endeavor; endeavour; strive (attempt by employing effort)

give it a try; give it a whirl (try)

adventure; chance; gamble; hazard; risk; run a risk; take a chance; take chances (take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome)

lay on the line; put on the line; risk (expose to a chance of loss or damage)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They assay to move

Credits

 Context examples: 

The assay, performed using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue, analyzes the expression of a panel of 21 genes and the results are provided as a Recurrence Score (0-100).

(Oncotype DX breast cancer assay, NCI Thesaurus)

EXAMPLE(S): Arterial puncture, sphygmomanometry (for blood pressure measurement)Global introspection, algorithm, bayesian (for Adverse Event causality)Estrogen Receptor Assay, Progesterone Receptor Assay, p53 Assay (for clinical result assay)

(Performed Observation Method Code, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

Pharmaceutical excipients do not affect therapeutic effects of the preparation or suitable tests or assays.

(Pharmaceutical Excipient, NCI Thesaurus)

An assay or diagnostic test utilized to measure the level of degradation of a drug or material in the presence of ultraviolet, visible or infrared light.

(Photostability Test, NCI Thesaurus)

Following amplification of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay, the quantified amount of the target gene divided by the quantified amount of housekeeping gene.

(Normalized Quotient, NCI Thesaurus)

Molecular Biology Shared Resource provides molecular biology services to the Cancer Center investigators including automated DNA sequencing, DNA and peptide synthesis, protein sequencing, amino acid analysis, BIAcore protein ligand assays, and mass spectrometry.

(Molecular Biology Shared Resource, NCI Thesaurus)

The variance depends on the assay.

(NIH Unit of Thrombin Inhibited/Square Centimeter, NCI Thesaurus)

With a binding mode that is energetically more favorable than that of imatinib, nilotinib has been shown to have an approximately 20-fold increased potency in kinase and proliferation assays compared to imatinib.

(Nilotinib, NCI Thesaurus)

A method of biological assay that looks for the presence of unique molecules or sequences considered indicative for a condition or state.

(Biomarker Analysis, NCI Thesaurus)

A chemosensitivity assay may help in choosing the best drug or drugs for the cancer being treated.

(Chemosensitivity assay, NCI Dictionary)