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:
He served on the Bowie City Council before becoming a Maryland state delegate in 2023.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
A two-person management committee would assume day-to-day responsibilities, with Overdeck and Siegel each appointing their own delegate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
In real life, he prefers to delegate the unpleasant task to an underling.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
On Thursday, France's minister delegate for international trade, Nicolas Forissier, told AFP that countries have found common ground "on the fact that it's not acceptable to weaponize food and agriculture" in conflicts.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
“Let’s get together next month to discuss the agenda for our first meeting with the delegate assembly,” he said.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
Late in the convention, the delegates adopted the additional phrase “or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors” in important part to expand the reach of impeachable corruption beyond technical bribery.
From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2026
Under the constitution, Congress has authority over tariffs, which it delegates to the president in specific circumstances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
Yet it’s unclear how many were able to attend, with some delegates forced to drive hours across the desert from Bahrain or Jordan to reach Riyadh.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Ceferin informed delegates of his decision at a meeting of all 55 national association chiefs in Berlin.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Sarai dispatched her moths to the guildhall, where most of the delegates were sleeping soundly, and to the homes of city leaders, and some of the Tizerkane, too.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Seabright found that the revision made no meaningful difference because those powers could not have been delegated to Essayli in the first place.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
The licences are issued by the Football Association, though the process itself is delegated to the Premier League.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 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
As per the OCC, “approvals of applications such as this are made under authority delegated by the Comptroller to career staff.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 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
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
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
"Our historical experience has taught us that delegating vital matters... to international judicial bodies has been detrimental to our sovereignty and our territorial integrity," he said.
From Barron's ● May 6, 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
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