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Suppose we have users and operators. Some users are assigned to certain operators. What should I call a procedure of removing an assignment, so an operator no longer works with a user or group of users? What are some antonyms for assign?

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7 Answers

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What about "dissociate" or "deallocate"?

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dissociate is good i think. Thank You! – Aleksandr Kravets Feb 28 '12 at 10:58
Glad to help. My very first answer is accepted. Awesome! – Mike G Feb 28 '12 at 11:01
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There is some question about whether it is a real word, but I have seen and occasionally used "deassign."

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I also saw 'unassign', but it doesn't sound well. – Aleksandr Kravets Feb 28 '12 at 10:15
I agree, unassign doesn't sound quite right. A variable can be unassigned, but I don't think this should be used as an active verb. – James McLeod Feb 28 '12 at 13:01
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Divest comes to my mind:

(transitive) To strip, deprive, or dispossess (someone) of something (such as a right, passion, privilege, or prejudice).

You shall never divest me of my right to free speech.

So if the original procedure is:

Assign users to an operator.

The antonym is:

Divest an operator of users.

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Wikitionary says it's an archaic word. I think many of my colleagues don't have it in their vocabulary, I also hear it for the first time. Is there a more widespread word? – Aleksandr Kravets Feb 28 '12 at 8:50
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It's archaic for the meaning of "undress", not for the meaning we're talking about here. – Richard Rodriguez Feb 28 '12 at 8:57
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If the user is moved to a different operator, I would go for "reassigned", which carries the proper connotations, I feel.

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No, it's just link between them being removed – Aleksandr Kravets Feb 28 '12 at 8:26
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You can revoke a task that has been allocated to someone

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Maybe i'm just carping, but revoke is more of use with privilegies. And i have a group of users being supported by operator. – Aleksandr Kravets Feb 28 '12 at 8:56
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If you "assign" users to an operator, you may "remove" users from the operator.

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It's opposite, operators are being assigned to groups of users. So if i can 'assign operator to group', then i can't say that i'm 'removing operator from group' because group consists of users, not operators. – Aleksandr Kravets Feb 28 '12 at 10:16
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Resign is a proper answer to your question.

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No, it is not. I assign someone else the task. I don't resign someone else the task. – Luke Nov 14 '12 at 15:06

protected by Will Hunting Nov 14 '12 at 12:19

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