Definition of RELEGATION

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

As Villa embark on a return to the Premier League following a three year absence, only Jack Grealish remains from the side that was relegated in 2016. — SI.com, "Tyrone Mings: Aston Villa Must Not Gamble on Signing Injury Prone Defender," 6 July 2019 In most areas, lobby groups and nationalism have relegated global legal and financial players to bit parts. — The Economist, "The Big Four may be blocked from doing Indian audits for years to come," 28 June 2019 As a result, Ethiopia’s federal design has relegated most minority regions that aren’t directly administered by the ruling coalition into second class regions. — Yohannes Gedamu, Quartz Africa, "The underlying tension behind Ethiopia’s flawed federal system and its risks," 26 June 2019 While every state has public or private mental institutions, most have relegated their hospitals to ancillary roles, available only to treat a small handful of hard cases and forensic patients. — John Hirschauer, National Review, "Mississippi’s Mental-Illness Policies Are Working. DOJ Is Challenging Them.," 17 June 2019 Charlie Riedel / AP Padres outfielder Travis Jankowski has been relegated to the purgatory of extended spring training the last 14 weeks. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Talking with ... Padres outfielder Travis Jankowski," 14 June 2019 That turn helped inform the way that the episode centered on Ruth, who, like the queen, had largely been relegated to the sidelines and dismissed up until this point in the season. — Karen Han, Vox, "Castle Rock showrunner Sam Shaw explains the series’ best episode yet," 26 Aug. 2018 And as the volumes of buying and selling spike, traders at Wall Street banks who were relegated to the sidelines in recent years are hoping for a return to the days of easy profits. — Landon Thomas Jr., New York Times, "Stock Markets Are Scary. Suddenly, It’s a Good Time to be a Trader.," 8 Mar. 2018 Teaching employees how to recognize phishing and other cyber scams is very helpful, as long as the training is ongoing and not relegated to a one-time session, Cosgrove said. — Jonathan Vanian, Fortune, "Welcome to the Next Generation of Corporate Phishing Scams," 19 June 2019

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.