delegate
Americannoun
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delegates
plural
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a person designated to act for or represent another or others; deputy; representative, as in a political convention.
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(formerly) the representative of a Territory in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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a member of the lower house of the state legislature of Maryland, Virginia, or West Virginia.
noun
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a person chosen or elected to act for or represent another or others, esp at a conference or meeting
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government a representative of a territory in the US House of Representatives
verb
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to give or commit (duties, powers, etc) to another as agent or representative; depute
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(tr) to send, authorize, or elect (a person) as agent or representative
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(tr) to assign (a person owing a debt to oneself) to one's creditor in substitution for oneself
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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delegateenoun
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delegatornoun
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nondelegatenoun
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predelegatenoun
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subdelegatenoun
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redelegateverb (used with object)
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subdelegateverb (used with object)
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delegableadjective
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undelegatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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delegatesimple
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delegatessimple
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have delegatedperfect
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has delegatedperfect
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am delegatingprogressive
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are delegatingprogressive
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is delegatingprogressive
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have been delegatingperfect progressive
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has been delegatingperfect progressive
Past
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delegatedsimple
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had delegatedperfect
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was delegatingprogressive
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were delegatingprogressive
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had been delegatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of delegate
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English (past participle) delegat, from Medieval Latin dēlēgātus, noun use of past participle of dēlēgāre “to assign,” equivalent to dē- de- + lēgātus “deputed”; see legate
Explanation
Delegate lends an official air to passing off your work. If you don't like cleaning the bathroom, you can try to delegate that task to your little brother. A delegate is also an elected official, or the person who is doing the task you delegated them to do. In presidential primaries in the United States, you do not vote for a candidate, you vote for a delegate whose job it is to vote for that candidate at a convention. Be careful with how you pronounce the end of the word. The elected official is pronounced DE-lə-git whereas delegate as a verb should be DE-lə-gāt.
Vocabulary lists containing delegate
The Bill of Rights
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List 4
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U.S. Government Lingo
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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:
France's minister delegate for international trade, Nicolas Forissier, told AFP in Milwaukee: "I can't imagine that there will be a ban."
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
But while a particular outcome might not have been foreseeable, the decision to delegate was deliberate and made by identifiable people based on evidence they either had or should have sought.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, the central government's delegate in Ceuta, addressed the revelations about the text messages the CNI had sent to his office the day before the mass crossing.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
How do you delegate the tasks you formerly did, lead former peers and juggle increased responsibilities?
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Ah been a delegate to de big ’ssociation of life.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
Ceferin informed delegates of his decision at a meeting of all 55 national association chiefs in Berlin.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The annual event, co-ordinated by the Guernsey Nature Commission, brings together delegates to share ideas and develop joint projects aimed at protecting the natural environment.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Brovdi sets guidelines but estimates he delegates 90% of combat decisions, which frees his troops to act on information quickly without seeking permission.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Jackson, a former state lawmaker, was chosen by Maine Democratic Party delegates to run in place of Platner, who dropped out in July after sexual misconduct allegations against him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
But I was nevertheless persistent and I raised the matter once more at the national conference in December 1951, where the delegates dismissed my view as emphatically as the National Executive Committee had done.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
It was plausible to assume that the framers delegated to future courts the authority to apply the amendment to new means of invading what the amendment was meant to protect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Stevenson sits on the equality, human rights and civil justice committee as well as the transport committee, and is a substitute member of the delegated powers and law reform committee.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
In his third term, Xi has delegated some responsibilities to a small group of loyalists who are in their late 60s and early 70s—considered too old to be viable successors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Lunetta pointed out that hospitals "have repetitive tasks" which "could be delegated to a good robot".
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
Some say it was delegated by the gods to Prometheus, the Titan who had sided with Zeus in the war with the Titans, and to his brother, Epimetheus.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
In theory, we could able to liberate ourselves of dull, menial tasks, such as replying to emails, going to meetings or managing calendars and diaries, by delegating these to capable bots.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Similarly to that crawl, L.A.’s will feature a passport system, which involves delegating stamps for every purchase of $10 or more at each stop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
He joked that by delegating Vance to sign it and take on negotiations, the vice president can get some of the blame if it goes wrong.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field, saying that "delegating decisions concerning the life and death of human beings to machines" is a "destructive spiral".
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
He was delegating the red rubber bands to Laney when his mom called to him from the kitchen.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
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.
