relegate

verb

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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 Texas is returning an experienced and loaded cornerback room for the 2021 season with veteran starters like redshirt senior Josh Thompson and juniors D’Shawn Jamison and Jalen Green, which will likely relegate Johnson to the bench. — Dallas News, "Meet Texas’ 2021 early enrollees already on campus: 4-star defensive players steal the spotlight," 20 Jan. 2021 His skillset might relegate him to being a slot corner in the NFL. — Tim Bielik, cleveland, "Which players boosted their draft stock most from this college football season? 2021 NFL mock draft 4.0," 26 Jan. 2021 That helped relegate Curtis to history’s footnotes, despite national name recognition in his day. — oregonlive, "Kamala Harris follows Kaw Nation’s Charles Curtis as the second person of color to become vice president," 21 Jan. 2021 Or will old wounds in the chamber relegate him to legislative Siberia? — James Barragán, Dallas News, "After targeting GOP lawmakers in elections, can Dustin Burrows find redemption in the Texas House?," 11 Dec. 2020 Notable omissions like that could relegate the MacBook Pro with M1 to 'curiosity' status for now. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "How Apple's new M1 Macs could finally make Windows on Arm a reality," 11 Nov. 2020 That outcome would relegate Democrats’ expansive agenda on issues including taxes, climate change and health care to the sidelines. — Steven T. Dennis, Bloomberg.com, "GOP Shreds Democrats’ Senate Hopes by Holding Key States," 5 Nov. 2020 Arriving in dealerships later this year, the TRX’s modest raison d’être is to relegate Ford’s iconic F-150 Raptor desert-racing truck to the back of the pack. — Mark Phelan, Detroit Free Press, "The 2021 Ram TRX, at 702 horsepower, eats other pickups for lunch," 23 Oct. 2020 Unfortunately for Mitch McConnell and his allies, the same demographic trends that threaten to relegate the national Republican Party to long-term minority status are coming for the GOP's Senate power too. — David Faris, TheWeek, "The clock is ticking on Republicans' Senate advantage," 20 Oct. 2020

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.