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:
We’re underestimating the often-invisible work of people who enable higher-ranking leaders to delegate and get the most out of front-line employees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
A team player, Cook knew when to step back and delegate reponsibilities.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
“I’ve learned to delegate and let other people take over.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
"The latest figure that we have is 72," the government's delegate to Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez Triano, told reporters, when asked about the number of fatalities.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
After one of our delegate assembly meetings, Mr. Muse informed me that I had been invited to have lunch at the Rotary Club meeting on the following Tuesday.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
For some delegates, however, neither leading contender could fully replace Trump.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
Alexander Hamilton warned the constitutional delegates that “if we incline too much to democracy, we shall shoot into a monarchy.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Other delegates bristled that the spat between close allies was an unnecessary distraction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Key to its success was its timing in the final week of the world's largest arts festival which allowed delegates to network, while also "shopping" the city for fresh ideas, talent and shows.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
He kept his own counsel, while the other delegates were vociferous.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
The position is usually delegated to a junior minister, the paper explains.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Humphrey’s made “independent agencies more tempting repositories for delegated powers that the President could not access with quite such ease,” he writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Lunetta pointed out that hospitals "have repetitive tasks" which "could be delegated to a good robot".
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
And an executive order signed by President Barack Obama in 2012 delegated this authority to the secretary of defense.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
So finally they delegated me to tell him that he needed to take a bath more often.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Wasn’t it true, a juror asked, that he had taken to delegating tasks to subordinates in recent years?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 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
But he has become good at delegating, too, with all of the backroom team delivering sessions so the squad don't get tired of hearing one voice.
From BBC ● May 19, 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.
