devote
Americanverb (used with object)
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devotes,
present (3rd person singular)
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devoted,
past participle, past
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devoting
present participle
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to give up or appropriate to or concentrate on a particular pursuit, occupation, purpose, cause, etc..
to devote one's time to reading.
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to appropriate by or as if by a vow; set apart or dedicate by a solemn or formal act; consecrate.
She devoted her life to God.
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to commit to evil or destruction; doom.
verb
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to apply or dedicate (oneself, time, money, etc) to some pursuit, cause, etc
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obsolete to curse or doom
Synonym Usage
Devote, dedicate, consecrate share the sense of assigning or applying someone or something to an activity, function, or end. Devote, though it has some overtones of religious dedication, is the most general of the three terms: He devoted his free time to mastering the computer. Dedicate is more solemn and carries an ethical or moral tone: We are dedicated to the achievement of equality for all. Consecrate, even in nonreligious contexts, clearly implies a powerful and sacred dedication: consecrated to the service of humanity.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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devotesimple
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devotessimple
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have devotedperfect
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has devotedperfect
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am devotingprogressive
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are devotingprogressive
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is devotingprogressive
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have been devotingperfect progressive
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has been devotingperfect progressive
Past
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devotedsimple
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had devotedperfect
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was devotingprogressive
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were devotingprogressive
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had been devotingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of devote
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin dēvōtus “vowed,” past participle of dēvovēre “to vow,” from dē- de- + vovēre “to vow” ( see vow)
Explanation
Devote means to give to. If you devote yourself to jump-roping, you might be found in your driveway every free moment of the day practicing. Nuns and priests are said to devote their lives to God. A knight in shining armor devotes himself to his lady. If you devote as much energy to your school work as you do to your hair, your grades should improve. If our country devoted to education even half of the resources we pour into defense, we could eliminate poverty.
Vocabulary lists containing devote
Early Civilizations of India, Lessons 1–4
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Schooled
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Chapter 2: Exploring the Americas
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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:
Although they said they would devote the refund to “price investment,” which sounds like lowering prices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Meta plans to devote up to $145 billion toward capital expenditures this year.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
When the time came to decide which sport to devote his abundant talent to, tennis won through – but the decision was not without a personal cost.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Thanks to the unprecedented influx of cash from SpaceX's IPO, the company will nonetheless have plenty of resources to devote to the project and others.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
Only a few people can keep up with the rapidly advancing frontier of knowledge, and they have to devote their whole time to it and specialize in a small area.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
Strangely, Patterson, an Emmy-nominated TV writer, devotes more attention to the plot than to the play’s psychology.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
The security vanishes, however, when Tomás devotes himself to mapping hidden truths.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Ironically, the film devotes so much attention to the world’s reaction to Davidson’s coprolalia that there’s scant space left over to examine its actual subject beyond correcting the ways the world sees him.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
The 35,000-square-foot privately funded museum devotes 25,000 square feet to public space, with the remaining 10,000 square feet holding the in-house technology that makes the space run.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026
He devotes a large part of his time to reading about color.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
Not all of tech-related spending went toward AI—some of it was devoted to buying computers that sit on white-collar workers’ desks, for example.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
The late actor and director Rob Reiner was a devoted Dodgers fan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
Researchers have devoted considerable attention to the plasma's intense swirling motion and powerful electromagnetic fields.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
To illustrate my point, consider the three occasions over the last decade when I devoted a column to taking issue with a chorus of voices calling for Cook to step down.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 2, 2026
The rest of the Farewell Address was then devoted to foreign policy, calling for strict American neutrality and diplomatic independence from the tangled affairs of Europe.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Around the issue of noise, Universal Studios Hollywood has been proactive with Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, devoting a website to just how silent and unobtrusive its groundbreaking coaster would be.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Plus, devoting a day to taking care of business can be good for your finances.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
“Our country is winning again,” Trump said, devoting nearly six minutes of his speech to the team’s victory.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
He returned in 2004, devoting a summer to making watercolors of the landscape.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
I resigned myself to devoting all my energy to that goal.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
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.
