relegate

American  

[rel-i-geyt] / ˈrɛl ɪˌgeɪt /

verb (used with object)

relegates, present (3rd person singular) relegated, past participle, past relegating present participle

1. to send or consign to an inferior position, place, or condition.

   He has been relegated to a post at the fringes of the diplomatic service.

2. to consign or commit (a matter, task, etc.), as to a person.

   He relegates the less pleasant tasks to his assistant.

   Synonyms:

   entrust, consign, assign

3. to assign or refer (something) to a particular class or kind.

4. to send into exile; banish.

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relegate British  

/ ˈrɛlɪˌɡeɪt /

verb

1. to move to a position of less authority, importance, etc; demote

2. (usually passive) to demote (a football team, etc) to a lower division

3. to assign or refer (a matter) to another or others, as for action or decision

4. (foll by to) to banish or exile

5. to assign (something) to a particular group or category

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• relegation
  noun
• relegable
  adjective
• relegatable
  adjective
• unrelegable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• relegating
  present
• relegated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• relegate
  simple
• relegates
  simple
• have relegated
  perfect
• has relegated
  perfect
• am relegating
  progressive
• are relegating
  progressive
• is relegating
  progressive
• have been relegating
  perfect progressive
• has been relegating
  perfect progressive

Past

• relegated
  simple
• had relegated
  perfect
• was relegating
  progressive
• were relegating
  progressive
• had been relegating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will relegate
  simple
• will have relegated
  perfect
• will be relegating
  progressive
• will have been relegating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of relegate

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English from Latin relēgātus, past participle of relēgāre “to send away, dispatch”; see re-, legate

Explanation

Relegate means "to assign to a lower position." If the quarterback of the football team stops making decent throws, he might be relegated to the position of benchwarmer. Relegate rhymes with delegate — both words derive from the Latin legare, "to send." Relegate means to send someone down in rank. Delegate means to send someone in your place to complete a task. In the workplace, managers who can't figure out how to delegate may get relegated to a lesser rank.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

relegate relegates relegated relegating

“The U.S. now accepts China as a strategic rival and peer versus a country they can try to relegate and control.”

From Barron's ● May 15, 2026

This means we relegate ourselves to relying on the goodwill of physicians like Craven and piecemeal grant funding to uncover new uses and facilitate their adoption.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026

Before the show, the singer told the Jerusalem Post he was determined to concentrate on the music and relegate any criticisms to "background noise".

From BBC ● May 12, 2026

They would rather relegate Robyn to “cringe” status.

From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2026

Had the arrangement been otherwise, we would use base eight or base twelve arithmetic and relegate base ten to the New Math.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Still, workers clearly have some time before AI relegates them to the permanent underclass.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026

Apple TV+ is so far down the list of streamers by watch time that Nielsen relegates it to the “other streaming” category of a pie chart.

From Slate ● Jan. 16, 2025

"We're not doing anything illegal. We act according to the law. As for being scared, fear mustn't prevail. I believe in what I'm doing. And this conviction relegates fear to second place."

From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2024

The drafting of Jaxon Smith-Njigba likely relegates Eskridge to being the fourth receiver.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 22, 2023

Mr. Spencer offers no explanations and relegates all to the convenient dumping ground of the unknowable.

From The Universe a Vast Electric Organism by Warder, George Woodward

And there’s likely a good reason for that: The term is typically only deployed by those comfortable being relegated as fringe, and Lamb seeks broad popularity.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026

Central midfielder Witsel, 37, who left relegated Girona at the end of the La Liga season, was brought on for a single minute at the end of the win over the USA.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

In a humbling parallel, the team was recently relegated from Germany’s top soccer league.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Classic romantic comedies might have convinced many viewers that these kinds of problems are relegated specifically to heterosexual culture.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

Many of the newer immigrants from eastern European countries like Poland and Lithuania were relegated to the ramshackle houses just west of the Union Stock Yard in the neighborhood aptly called Back of the Yards.

From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield

The crown jewels of the arcade industry, they occupy the building's first two floors, relegating video games to the basement and upper levels.

From Barron's ● Dec. 26, 2025

Cerebras inscribed the memory directly on to the wafer rather than relegating it to distant chips and chiplets in high-bandwidth memory mazes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2025

While working on the project, she realized there are few depictions of boys and young men whose story is anchored in love, rather than relegating love to a side plot.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2025

And there I go, relegating the white-ball team to a second-tier status.

From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2025

But in the latter half of the era these appeared in ever increasing multitudes, displacing the lower types and relegating them to a subordinate position.

From Dinosaurs With Special Reference to the American Museum Collections by Osborn, Henry Fairfield

Related Words

• consign
• entrust
• refer