Definition of RELEGATED (original) (raw)

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

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

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

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

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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.

Synonyms

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

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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

When first created they were relegated to industrial use—cutting, drilling, and polishing rather than adorning fingers and décolletages. —Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 7 Feb. 2025 Sims had been largely relegated to a bench role after failing to make an impact in extended minutes on the floor this season. —Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 6 Feb. 2025 Black Angelenos were often relegated to a few small, contested stretches of sand. —Natalie Preddie, Travel + Leisure, 3 Feb. 2025 For their part, the Meta researchers argued that their research need not result in humans being relegated to the sidelines. —Billy Perrigo, TIME, 29 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for relegate