relegate

verb

rel·e·gate | \ ˈre-lə-ˌgāt

relegated; relegating

Definition of relegate

transitive verb

1 : to send into exile : banish

2 : assign: such as

a : to assign to a place of insignificance or of oblivion : put out of sight or mind

b : to assign to an appropriate place or situation on the basis of classification or appraisal

c : to submit to someone or something for appropriate action : delegate

d : to transfer (a sports team) to a lower ranking division

Other Words from relegate Synonyms Choose the Right Synonym Did You Know? Example Sentences Learn More about relegate

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Choose the Right Synonym for relegate

commit, entrust, confide, consign, relegate mean to assign to a person or place for a definite purpose. commit may express the general idea of delivering into another's charge or the special sense of transferring to a superior power or to a special place of custody. committed the felon to prison entrust implies committing with trust and confidence. the president is entrusted with broad powers confide implies entrusting with great assurance or reliance. confided complete control of my affairs to my attorney consign suggests removing from one's control with formality or finality. consigned the damaging notes to the fire relegate implies a consigning to a particular class or sphere often with a suggestion of getting rid of. relegated to an obscure position in the company

Did You Know?

Originally relegate meant "to send into exile, banish". So when you relegate an old sofa to the basement, you're sending it to home-decorating Siberia. When confronted with a matter that no one really wants to face, a chief executive may relegate it to a committee "for further study", which may manage to ignore it for years. It may be annoying to read a newspaper article about a pet project and find that your own contributions have been relegated to a short sentence near the end.

Examples of relegate in a Sentence

The bill has been relegated to committee for discussion. courtiers and generals who incurred the emperor's disfavor were soon relegated to the farther reaches of the empire

Recent Examples on the Web

Both player and club want the deal to go through, but having been relegated to the Championship, Swansea are playing hardball over the fee. — SI.com, "Sevilla Set to Open Contract Talks With Arsenal Target Ever Banega After the World Cup," 26 June 2018 Low range used to be common but these days it's relegated to pickup trucks and SUVs that have serious off-road pretensions. — Ezra Dyer, Popular Mechanics, "How to Use Your 4WD System," 5 Dec. 2018 Social issues were very low on the totem pole if there at all, or they were relegated to a status that never got fixed. — Eric Johnson, Recode, "Why nonprofits should think more like tech companies," 14 Nov. 2018 Women have served since the RAF's founding year, but until 1994, they were relegated to a separate women's branch. — Chloe Foussianes, Town & Country, "Queen Elizabeth Just Unveiled a New Portrait in Honor of the Royal Air Force's 100th Anniversary," 17 Oct. 2018 Before, they were relegated to a soap box on street corners or drafting a newsletter. — Erik Lacitis, The Seattle Times, "Lies, lies and more lies. Out of an old Tacoma house, fact-checking site Snopes uncovers them," 10 Oct. 2018 But none of that matters—not even his Tony Award—because he will always be relegated to supporting roles. — Karen Ho, GQ, "BD Wong Doesn't Want Fame—He Wants Success," 27 June 2018 He was relegated to a role as a reliever used for multi-innings stints. — Andy Mccullough, latimes.com, "Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling making most of chance at starting," 4 June 2018 He was relegated to pinch-hitting duty in three other games. — Mark Rosner, Indianapolis Star, "IU baseball loses in NCAA tournament because of one big inning," 1 June 2018

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