The house owner hired an estate agent to appraise the value of his home. He was shocked when the agent apprised him that due to COVID crisis the value of his estate had fallen.
The words ‘appraise’ and ‘apprise’ can be mistaken for each other considering they seem and sound a bit like each other. However, they’re not interchangeable, and here’s why:
The word ‘appraise’ generally means to assess, evaluate and expansively consider. It can mean to estimate the value of assets or goods or to elaborately appreciate the extent of something. ‘Apprise’ on the other hand, means to let someone know or notify someone. We apprise you that there is more to these words than meets the eye. So, we insist you continue reading for more definitions, meanings, uses, and example sentences with explanations!
Appraise vs apprise – definition, uses, and example sentences
Definition of appraise
‘Appraise’ is pronounced ‘uh-prayz’ and it is grammatically used as a verb. To appraise something means many things. It can be defined as determining the worth of something by assessing its net value. It can also be defined as judging or critically evaluating an employee’s work performance, usually done periodically. It can also mean to comprehensively analyze something or estimate the extent of something. Rarely, to appraise something can also mean to give praise or applaud someone. The synonyms of ‘appraise’ include ‘evaluate, ‘assess’, ‘review’, and ‘comment’ in different senses of the word.
Example sentences of appraise
- As the company was going bankrupt soon, the CEO decided to sell all of its shares and hired a professional to appraise the company goods’ net worth.
In the first sentence, the verb ‘appraise’ is used in the infinitive form. Here, ‘appraise’ means to estimate or evaluate something, like goods and commodities, to calculate its real worth. The CEO afraid that his shares would go down in their worth decided to sell off his shares and hence hired a professional to calculate their worth.
- The employees were informed that they would be appraised ahead of their annual contract renewal and the scores of their appraisal would determine their merit for promotion.
Here, the verb ‘appraise is used in the past participle in the meaning of assessing or evaluating job performance. A company informed its employees that their job performance would be thoroughly evaluated before their contract renewal. Also note that the act and result of the evaluation, usually done over a specified period, is called an appraisal.
- The Investigation officers called upon the Fire Department to appraise the degree of damage the house had suffered in the mysterious arson case.
In the last sentence, ‘appraise’ is used as an infinitive verb in the meaning of considering or assessing the house that had suffered incineration extensively. The investigating team summoned the fire department to evaluate how much damage had been caused in the accidental fire so that the house-owners could be compensated.
Definition of apprise
‘Apprise’ is pronounced ‘uh-prize’ and it is also a verb. It can be defined as informing, notifying, or briefing someone of, usually, critical information. While ‘appraise’ can mean a lot of things and its meaning varies according to the context, the verb ‘apprise’ only means to let someone know.
Example sentences of apprise
- The Police should be apprised of any stolen vehicles immediately through an FIR to avoid being incriminated for crimes done using the stolen vehicles.
Here, the verb ‘apprise’ is used in the past participle in a passive sentence to mean that the police should be informed or notified about stolen vehicles immediately because if criminals commit crimes using those vehicles the owners might be charged for it.
- During the 1965 Indo-Pak war, civilians residing near the border served as spies to their respective armies, apprising them of any enemy movement ahead of time.
In the second sentence, the verb ‘apprise’ is used in the present participle form in the meaning of notifying or providing information. Civilians living near the border served as spies for their armies providing critical information.
- The American President George W. Bush was apprised of the attack on the Twin Towers by his Chief of Staff while the president was visiting an elementary school.
In the last sentence, the verb ‘apprise’ is used with the past participle to mean ‘inform or brief’. President George Bush was informed about the attack on the Twin Towers by his Chief of Ctaff while visiting an elementary school.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the words ‘appraise’ and ‘apprise’ are verbs and homophones. To ‘appraise’ something can mean a lot of things but the basic definition of the verb is to assess, review or evaluate. To apprise someone is a fancy way of saying ‘to let someone know’. To choose correctly, remember that ‘appraise’ has one additional vowel ‘a’ which is not there in ‘apprise’. Remember this ‘-a-’ for assessment, which is at the root of the meaning of the verb ‘appraise’. Moreover, ‘appraise’ also contains the word ‘praise’ which means to applaud, which is another meaning of ‘appraise’. As for ‘apprise’, remember that it sounds like ‘surprise’. Link this rhyme to think of the meaning of apprise as ‘to surprise with new information’. We have apprised you thoroughly about the usage of these words and we hope to be positively appraised.
