relegate

verb rel·e·gate \ ˈre-lə-ˌgāt \

Definition of relegate

relegated; relegating

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

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relegation

play \ˌre-lə-ˈgā-shən\ noun

See relegate defined for English-language learners

See relegate defined for kids

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 of relegate from the Web

Fox was relegated to the scout team for half of his sophomore and juniors seasons after transferring back to Mobile Christian from Faith Academy.

— ben thomas, AL.com, "A-List No. 8: Mobile Christian's Andres Fox goes from average to 'animal' on the DL," 15 Aug. 2017
The next year, Wolves was relegated again, this time out of the second-tier Championship.

— rory smith, New York Times, "The Owner Brought the Money. The Agent Delivered the Players. Now What?," 4 Aug. 2017
Unlike much of the rest of world soccer, U.S. soccer doesn’t promote teams who win their divisions to upper divisions, or relegate teams who finish poorly in their divisions to lower divisions.

— miamiherald, "Miami FC sues U.S. Soccer, FIFA. Wants promotion and relegation rules in U.S.," 3 Aug. 2017
That move will essentially relegate the school board to the sidelines, leaving financial and academics up to the new emergency manager.

— carole carlson, Post-Tribune, "Changed vote clears way for Gary school bus service," 27 July 2017
She was relegated to largely going into Trump communications default mode by bashing the media and its alleged obsession with the Russia investigation.

— vanityfair.com, "Is Trump Trying to “Throw the Attorney General of the United States Overboard”?," 25 July 2017
But not, unfortunately, for relegating his unquestionable genius to an auxiliary plotline.

— sophie gilbert, The Atlantic, "Will Is Flagrantly Silly, Glam-Rock Shakespeare," 10 July 2017
As for what Trump will discuss with Putin, the issue of Russia’s 2016 election meddling will be relegated to the back burner, multiple outlets are reporting.

— adam k. raymond, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump Reportedly Prepping for Putin Meeting With ‘Tweet-Length’ Briefings," 5 July 2017
In his lone year with the Bulls, Rondo moved in and out of the rotation under coach Fred Hoiberg, sometimes garnering significant playing time and an integral role in the offense, and other times he was relegated to the bench.

— usa today sports, The Courier-Journal, "Chicago Bulls release point guard Rajon Rondo," 30 June 2017

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.

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.

Origin and Etymology of relegate

Latin relegatus, past participle of relegare, from re- + legare to send with a commission — more at legate

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1599

See Words from the same year

relegate Synonyms

Synonyms

deport, displace, exile, expatriate, banish, transport

Related Words

cast out, dismiss, eject, eliminate, evict, exclude, expel, expulse, kick out, oust, run out, throw out; excommunicate, ostracize, reject, repudiate, spurn; dispossess

Near Antonyms

naturalize, repatriate; accept, admit, receive, take in; entertain, harbor, house, shelter

Synonym Discussion of 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

RELEGATE Defined for English Language Learners

relegate

verb

Definition of relegate for English Language Learners

: to put (someone or something) in a lower or less important position, rank, etc.
: to give (something, such as a job or responsibility) to another person or group
: to move (a sports team) to a lower position in a league