consign
Americanverb (used with object)
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to hand over or deliver formally or officially; commit (often followed byto ).
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to transfer to another's custody or charge; entrust.
- Synonyms:
- confide
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to set apart for or devote to (a special purpose or use).
to consign two afternoons a week to the club.
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to banish or set apart in one's mind; relegate.
to consign unpleasant thoughts to oblivion.
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Commerce.
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to ship, as by common carrier, especially for sale or custody.
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to address for such shipment.
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Obsolete. to confirm or ratify, as with a seal or other token.
verb (used without object)
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to agree or assent.
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Obsolete. to yield or submit.
verb
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to hand over or give into the care or charge of another; entrust
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to commit irrevocably
he consigned the papers to the flames
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to commit for admittance
to consign someone to jail
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to address or deliver (goods) for sale, disposal, etc
it was consigned to his London address
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obsolete (intr) to assent; agree
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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consignationnoun
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preconsignverb (used with object)
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reconsignverb (used with object)
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consignableadjective
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unconsignableadjective
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unconsignedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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consignsimple
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consignssimple
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have consignedperfect
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has consignedperfect
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am consigningprogressive
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are consigningprogressive
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is consigningprogressive
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have been consigningperfect progressive
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has been consigningperfect progressive
Past
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consignedsimple
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had consignedperfect
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was consigningprogressive
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were consigningprogressive
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had been consigningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of consign
1400–50; late Middle English; apparently (< Middle French consigner ) < Medieval Latin consignāre to mark with sign of cross, Latin: to mark with a seal. See con-, sign
Explanation
The verb consign means to transfer permanently to another. You can consign ownership of your old car to your son, an act that will probably make you the "best parent ever" in his eyes. Consign means to commit or relegate. Those platform shoes you still have from high school in the 1970s? You should probably consign them to the trash — of course, they probably should have been consigned in the 1970s! Consign can also be used if you turn over an object for sale where the business making the sale gets a percentage of the profits and so do you. If you don't like the art work you inherited, you might consign it with an auction house and use the profits to buy something you like better.
Vocabulary lists containing consign
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Grade 11, List 4
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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:
And if you do know, then don’t consign “space” to jargon space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
Austria are three points better off than Scotland and another loss for Scotland would consign them to relegation from the top tier.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2025
This isn’t to consign Richman to pop’s deep bin of one-hit wonders.
From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2024
The originator of the concept, Snapchat, started out as a simple photo-sharing app that promised to consign your private visual messages after just a few seconds each.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2024
What made it possible to consign alchemy to the dustbin of history was a new understanding of what chemists were trying to do.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Instead the two become friends, and Cora consigns the fling to the realm of her imagination.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
It consigns out-of-form Fakhar Zaman to the bench at least in the short term, while also adding strength to the batting lineup that is so dependent on captain Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 13, 2023
"We will not give up... the alternative consigns us to a watery grave," Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davies said.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2022
“Gucci” has won some ardent fans swooning over Lady Gaga’s scenery-chewing, roaring, Haaaaaa-ahhhh-ahhh-ohhhh-ahhaaaaaa-ahhhh-ahhh-ohhhh-ah!!! turn as the story’s aggrieved Lady Macbeth stand-in, which I can appreciate up till the movie consigns her to the background.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2021
Truth talked and not lived, rolls on the human heart a stone; consigns sensibility to the charnel-house of sen- suality, ease, self-love, self-justification, there to moulder and rot.
From Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 by Eddy, Mary Baker
They got it thanks to a 0-0 result of composure and organisation that consigned Italy to the play-offs and took England back to the World Cup having missed USA '94.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
“Yet here is this singular brilliance, consigned to a small span of years. He places the two side by side in the scales.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
When she was consigned to a sale in the summer of 2021, he bought her with Hidden Brook for $135,000.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
Raul Garcia's superb 90th-minute strike consigned leaders Real Madrid to a 2-1 defeat at Osasuna in La Liga on Saturday, in a blow to their title hopes.
From Barron's ● Feb. 21, 2026
And just when Holly had mentally consigned herself to the scrap heap, she felt it.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
Mr. Booker, then Newark’s mayor, responded with a viral tweet “banning” Mr. O’Brien from Newark airport and consigning him to JFK instead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
The landscape is particularly difficult for first-time buyers, consigning many to the used car market, Drury said.
From Barron's ● Jan. 7, 2026
Clarke acknowledged the questionable morality of such a project, consigning these explorers to an “onerous and uncertain future.”
From Slate ● Dec. 9, 2025
I will secure and defend our borders — but I will also stop consigning many who are here to a permanent underclass.
From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2024
I believe that justice demands that you reject the testimony of these men, consigning their stories to the area of deep doubt.
From "Monster" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
