delegate

noun

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del·e·gate | \ ˈde-li-gət

, -ˌgāt

Definition of delegate

(Entry 1 of 2)

: a person acting for another: such as

a : a representative to a convention or conference U.N. delegates from African nations The nominee netted a handful of delegates in the state's caucus.

b government : a representative of a U.S. territory in the House of Representatives

c government : a member of the lower house of the legislature of Maryland, Virginia, or West Virginia

delegate

verb

del·e·gate | \ ˈde-li-ˌgāt

delegated; delegating

Definition of delegate (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to entrust to another delegate authority delegated the task to her assistant

2 : to appoint as one's representative

intransitive verb

: to assign responsibility or authority a good manager knows how to delegate

Other Words from delegate Synonyms Did You Know? More Example Sentences Learn More about delegate

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Did You Know?

Verb

To "delegate" is literally or figuratively to send another in one's place, an idea that is reflected in the word’s origin; it is a descendant of Latin legare, meaning "to send as an emissary." Other English words that can be traced back to "legare" include "legate" ("a usually official emissary"), "legacy," "colleague," and "relegate." The noun delegate, meaning "a person acting for another," entered English in the 15th century, followed by the verb in the next century.

Examples of delegate in a Sentence

Noun the U.N. delegates from African countries He's been chosen as a delegate to the convention. Verb A manager should delegate authority to the best employees. Those chores can be delegated to someone else. He doesn't delegate very well.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun But district residents have no voting representation in Congress, although Eleanor Holmes Norton represents D.C. in Congress as a non-voting delegate. — Grace Segers, CBS News, "House committees to vote on bills on D.C. statehood and reparations," 14 Apr. 2021 In politics, Wall was proud of his involvement in Jimmy Carter’s campaigns in 1976 and 1980 and was a Carter delegate at the 1976 and 1980 Democratic National Nominating Conventions. — Graydon Megan, chicagotribune.com, "Elmhurst Methodist minister who wrote about “politics, cinema, modern culture and the ambiguity of human existence” has died," 6 Apr. 2021 Another co-founder, Chen Jianwen, is a delegate to a regional arm of the advisory body and leads an association for alumni of a training academy for Communist Party officials. — New York Times, "In Hong Kong, a New Party Calls for Stability (and Raises Suspicions)," 16 Jan. 2021 The Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman said that there were four reasons to adopt a new constitution: defense against foreign powers, defense against domestic insurrections, treaties with foreign nations, and the regulation of foreign commerce. — Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, "When Constitutions Took Over the World," 22 Mar. 2021 Workers last week began removing some razor wire — an eyesore that particularly outraged neighborhood residents and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the District’s nonvoting delegate in the House. — Washington Post, "U.S. Capitol Police to begin removing Capitol fencing, saying no ‘known credible threats’," 15 Mar. 2021 The scandals have called into question the reform itself, given even the papal delegate in charge was part of the cover-ups. — Nicole Winfield, Star Tribune, "Delayed Legion of Christ extortion trial goes ahead in Italy," 16 Feb. 2021 No delegate came into the Convention with a plan to build Congress as it was actually built, so the institution is reminiscent of the old saw that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. — Jay Cost, National Review, "In Defense of the Senate," 21 Mar. 2021 Subsequent reports said the troops and delegate brought cookies to Greene's office in appreciation for the new attention to Guam, which is 4,000 miles from Hawaii. — Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner, "Marjorie Taylor Greene rips ‘politicization, misuse’ of troops in DC," 17 Mar. 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Ratcliffe prefers to delegate rather than do physical labor himself, a standard managerial practice, but not something heroes do. — Carolyn Wells, Longreads, "Deconstructing Disney: Queer Coding and Masculinity in Pocahontas," 13 Apr. 2021 According to Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Villanova University, Pope Francis prefers to delegate the delivering of messages that his progressive supporters will find disagreeable. — Ian Lovett, WSJ, "Pope Struggles to Contain Conservative-Liberal Tensions in Catholic Church," 20 Mar. 2021 If everything is mundane, delegate the less exciting work to focus on what moves the needle for the business. — Expert Panel®, Forbes, "14 Ways To Renew Enthusiasm For A Long-Standing Job," 12 Mar. 2021 Use imaginative ways to get other people to follow your lead, and gently delegate authority. — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, "Horoscope for March 26, 2021: Virgo, skip happy hour; Sagittarius, share deep thoughts, hopes," 26 Mar. 2021 Companies have used Purpose to delegate decision-making and empower front-line employees to act with autonomy. — Bill Schaninger, Fortune, "Three common pitfalls for Corporate Purpose—and how to overcome them," 9 Mar. 2021 Somin doesn’t think that the Trump administration’s position is constitutional either, arguing that the Supreme Court has said that there are limits to how much power Congress can delegate toward the executive branch. — Emily Larsen, Washington Examiner, "Biden is murky on his national mask mandate plan — and so is the law," 19 Sep. 2020 Therefore, make sure to delegate manual code review only to highly qualified testers and developers. — Dennis Turpitka, Forbes, "Improve Docker Container Security With Penetration Testing," 26 Feb. 2021 The one job the CEO cannot delegate is vision and values. — George Bradt, Forbes, "The Only Way Marriott’s New CEO Can Make It Through One Of The Ultimate Hot Landings," 24 Feb. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'delegate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.