relocate
Americanverb (used with object)
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relocates,
present (3rd person singular)
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relocated,
past participle, past
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relocating
present participle
verb (used without object)
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relocates,
present (3rd person singular)
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relocated,
past participle, past
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relocating
present participle
verb
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to move or be moved to a new place, esp (of an employee, a business, etc) to a new area or place of employment
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(intr) (of an employee, a business, etc) to move for reasons of business to a new area or place of employment
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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relocatesimple
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relocatessimple
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have relocatedperfect
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has relocatedperfect
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am relocatingprogressive
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are relocatingprogressive
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is relocatingprogressive
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have been relocatingperfect progressive
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has been relocatingperfect progressive
Past
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relocatedsimple
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had relocatedperfect
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was relocatingprogressive
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were relocatingprogressive
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had been relocatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of relocate
Explanation
When you relocate, you move to a new location and settle into a new place. If you live in New York City but you get a job in Phoenix, you'll have to relocate to Arizona to start your new career. The word relocate came into English in the 1800s from re, meaning "back, again," and locate, meaning "to settle." Relocate refers not only to moving to a new place but also to establishing yourself there. It typically involves finding a new place to live, making new friends, finding your way around your new town or city — even getting cable TV installed. For some people, this can be an exciting adventure; for others, it's a daunting challenge of to-do lists.
Vocabulary lists containing relocate
"When Cultures Meet"
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Word Generation Weekly - Series 1
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“She’s All That” star Tamara Mello and her husband, Emmy Award-winning TV editor Paolo Cascardo, are parting ways with their thoughtfully restored Los Angeles home—as they prepare to relocate across the country to Florida.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Many of them are based in the Hawthorne area, but are expected to relocate to anywhere between the South Bay and north Orange County.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Amazon warns that hefty compliance costs could force it to relocate its 10 distribution centers outside the reach of city politicians and regulators—perhaps Long Island or New Jersey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Any exit from Southern California -- the capital of America's movie industry -- would likely spark a wave of resignations from workers unwilling to relocate.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
So precious did European axes become during this time, according to Brian Ferguson, an anthropologist at Rutgers University, that when a source appeared the Yanomami would relocate whole villages to be near it.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
If a family relocates, say, for a better job, they can carry their assistance with them within a given region.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Qiu's research suggests pollution is shifting west as heavy industry relocates to regions like Xinjiang, and that some cities in China have seen double-digit percentage increases in PM2.5 in the last five years.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
The elementary school relocates out of town during red-flag days.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
Ghost of Yōtei relocates the action a few hundred miles north, to the Honshū region, and the setting a few hundred years later, to 1603.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2025
General Douglas MacArthur, the officer in charge of the United States Army Forces in the Far East, abandons his home in Manila and relocates to the fortified island of Corregidor.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
On Saturday in Carmel, Ind., emergency officials relocated about 40 residents from their homes amid flooding and helped move residents and staff from a senior living facility, Mayor Sue Finkam said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Residents, along with other small villages including Middle Hambleton, were relocated to other areas before the buildings were demolished and the area flooded in the 1970s to create the reservoir.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
From there, the couple relocated to the Highland Gardens, a hotel in Raman’s district converted into homeless housing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
George and Amal were both granted French citizenship in 2025, just a few months after the couple revealed that they had relocated to France to give the children a more normal lifestyle.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
Must be from the part of the third floor that hadn’t relocated to this level.
From "Time Bomb" by Joelle Charbonneau
We love our 10-acre farmstead, but also often talk about moving outside the U.S. or relocating somewhere stateside, but don’t know if we can afford that.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Despite the suffering and challenges of relocating his hives to an unfamiliar landscape, Al-Dabba said he found "hope after seeing the bees coexist and adapt".
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
He deserted his unit earlier this month, Goni said, before relocating to Maiduguri, where he went into hiding with the help of an "associate".
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
They say relocating the bears doesn’t work because they either come right back or cause the same problems elsewhere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
I type Arthur Georgia and there’s nothing but randomness, like a girl named Georgia binge-watching every King Arthur movie, and nothing about Post Office Arthur relocating from Georgia for the summer.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
