dedicate
Americanverb (used with object)
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dedicates,
present (3rd person singular)
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dedicated,
past participle, past
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dedicating
present participle
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to set apart and consecrate to a deity or to a sacred purpose.
The ancient Greeks dedicated many shrines to Aphrodite.
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to devote wholly and earnestly, as to some person or purpose.
He dedicated his life to fighting corruption.
- Synonyms:
- consecrate, pledge, commit
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to offer formally (a book, piece of music, etc.) to a person, cause, or the like in testimony of affection or respect, as on a prefatory page.
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(loosely) to inscribe a personal signature on (a book, drawing, etc., that is one's own work), usually with a salutation addressing the recipient.
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to mark the official completion or opening of (a public building, monument, highway, etc.), usually by formal ceremonies.
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to set aside for or assign to a specific function, task, or purpose.
The county health agency has dedicated one inspector to monitor conditions in nursing homes.
adjective
verb
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(often foll by to) to devote (oneself, one's time, etc) wholly to a special purpose or cause; commit wholeheartedly or unreservedly
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(foll by to) to address or inscribe (a book, artistic performance, etc) to a person, cause, etc as a token of affection or respect
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(foll by to) to request or play (a record) on radio for another person as a greeting
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to assign or allocate to a particular project, function, etc
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to set apart for a deity or for sacred uses; consecrate
adjective
Synonym Usage
See devote.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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dedicateenoun
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dedicatornoun
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overdedicateverb (used with object)
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prededicateverb (used with object)
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rededicateverb (used with object)
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dedicatoryadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dedicatesimple
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dedicatessimple
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have dedicatedperfect
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has dedicatedperfect
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am dedicatingprogressive
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are dedicatingprogressive
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is dedicatingprogressive
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have been dedicatingperfect progressive
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has been dedicatingperfect progressive
Past
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dedicatedsimple
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had dedicatedperfect
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was dedicatingprogressive
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were dedicatingprogressive
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had been dedicatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dedicate
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English (verb and adjective) from Latin dēdicātus, past participle of dēdicāre “to declare, devote,” equivalent to dē- “from, away, out of” + dicāre “to indicate, consecrate,” akin to dīcere “to say, speak”; see de-, dictate)
Explanation
To dedicate is to assign, to commit or to give over. If you dedicate a song you’ve written to a friend, it means the song belongs to them. If you dedicate yourself to a project, it means you give yourself to it. Things you may be dedicated to include your family, improving your local park, or attempting to break the world record for making the world's biggest rubber band ball. A dedicated resource is one committed to a specific mission, such as the computer room at your school being dedicated, or given over, to newspaper production every Tuesday afternoon.
Vocabulary lists containing dedicate
List 1
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Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" (1863)
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List 1
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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:
The proposed project would dedicate more than 55,900 square feet to open space.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
By comparison, the partially reusable RLV C5 would dedicate about 74% of its mass to payload.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
"In Gaza, even those who dedicate their lives to helping others are not spared. But good deeds cannot be killed. They live on in the hearts of the people."
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
Instead, she and her team decided to skip the extra competition and dedicate her time solely to practicing her fundamentals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
When we’d finished, Emma suggested that one of us say something—make a speech to dedicate the journey ahead—but no one seemed ready with words.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
The lobbying contract dedicates a section to the minerals sector -- a global strategic priority for Trump's administration -- instructing the firm to "support efforts to identify opportunities for cooperation".
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
And nothing tells you you're part of something so difficult and profound more, than when the champion dedicates his win to a team-mate who lost his life on the cobbles eight years ago.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
Barnes & Noble is one of the few remaining chain retailers that still dedicates in-store space to physical media items.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026
She dedicates the book to him, and all lovers: “Quand on aime, on a toujours vingt ans.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
“For which she will one day thank us when she dedicates her first book to the Marysville Free Public Library.”
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
Google said the investments also covered "clean energy projects, and dedicated nature and community funds to support local biodiversity, education, research, and workforce development".
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
Meta expects to spend between $130 billion and $145 billion this year, most of which will be dedicated to AI programs.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
It would prevent cars from making left-hand turns onto more than 10 streets from Colorado Boulevard, creating dedicated left-hand turn lanes on remaining streets instead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
PARIS—A pair of thieves stole four artworks from a French museum dedicated to the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, in a sign of the country’s struggle to protect its cultural heritage following last year’s Louvre heist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
These sixteen dedicated souls were determined to walk all the way from New York to the nation’s capital, and that is exactly what they did, picking up many other hikers along the way.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Before fully dedicating himself to music, Lake worked as a postman and did manual labor jobs in the fish processing industry in the U.K.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Appearing as Sunday's headline act, the 82-year-old US soul star sang the track, which included lyrics like: "Joy, joy, joy, freedom, always be you", after dedicating it to the audience.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
The monastery, which includes one of the oldest major churches in Christianity, was built around a column that Saint Simeon sat on for years, dedicating his life to prayer.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
Hollywood star Josh Duhamel appears to be parting ways with his life in Los Angeles and dedicating himself to living full-time at his off-grid Minnesota cabin after listing his longtime California home for $2.99 million.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
I bend to my work, make my little cross on top of a clean page, dedicating my composition to J.M.J.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
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.
