The phrase "attribute to" refers to the act of assigning a particular quality or characteristic to someone or something. However, there are several synonyms that can be used to express this idea, including credit, ascribe, assign, impute, and accredit. While each of these words has slightly different connotations, they all imply the idea of giving credit for a particular quality or characteristic. For example, you might credit a team's success to their strong leadership, ascribe a painting's beauty to its use of color, or assign a student's poor performance to a lack of effort. Regardless of which synonym you choose, all of these words emphasize the importance of acknowledging the source of a particular quality or characteristic.