relegate

American  

[rel-i-geyt] / ˈrɛl ɪˌgeɪt /

verb (used with object)

relegates, present (3rd person singular) relegated, past participle, past relegating present participle

1. to send or consign to an inferior position, place, or condition.

   He has been relegated to a post at the fringes of the diplomatic service.

2. to consign or commit (a matter, task, etc.), as to a person.

   He relegates the less pleasant tasks to his assistant.

   Synonyms:

   entrust, consign, assign

3. to assign or refer (something) to a particular class or kind.

4. to send into exile; banish.

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relegate British  

/ ˈrɛlɪˌɡeɪt /

verb

1. to move to a position of less authority, importance, etc; demote

2. (usually passive) to demote (a football team, etc) to a lower division

3. to assign or refer (a matter) to another or others, as for action or decision

4. (foll by to) to banish or exile

5. to assign (something) to a particular group or category

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• relegation
  noun
• relegable
  adjective
• relegatable
  adjective
• unrelegable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• relegating
  present
• relegated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• relegate
  simple
• relegates
  simple
• have relegated
  perfect
• has relegated
  perfect
• am relegating
  progressive
• are relegating
  progressive
• is relegating
  progressive
• have been relegating
  perfect progressive
• has been relegating
  perfect progressive

Past

• relegated
  simple
• had relegated
  perfect
• was relegating
  progressive
• were relegating
  progressive
• had been relegating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will relegate
  simple
• will have relegated
  perfect
• will be relegating
  progressive
• will have been relegating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of relegate

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English from Latin relēgātus, past participle of relēgāre “to send away, dispatch”; see re-, legate

Explanation

Relegate means "to assign to a lower position." If the quarterback of the football team stops making decent throws, he might be relegated to the position of benchwarmer. Relegate rhymes with delegate — both words derive from the Latin legare, "to send." Relegate means to send someone down in rank. Delegate means to send someone in your place to complete a task. In the workplace, managers who can't figure out how to delegate may get relegated to a lesser rank.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

relegate relegates relegated relegating

Forest have six games left as they look to beat the drop - potentially helping to relegate Tottenham for the first time since 1977 in the process.

From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026

"And the US threatens to relegate the organisation to even greater irrelevance if it doesn't get what it wants," she told AFP.

From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026

One idea is to relegate certain demanding workloads to superconductors, which conduct electricity with zero resistance and produce almost no heat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026

What Skipper’s team has a chance to do Saturday might relegate those wins to fine print in his memoir.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2025

Aditya looked reproachful in these later sketches, his eyes beckoning the artist to stay with him for just a while longer, to not forget, to not relegate him to these empty pages.

From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon

Still, workers clearly have some time before AI relegates them to the permanent underclass.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026

In my opinion that all but relegates Wolves now.

From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2025

Apple TV+ is so far down the list of streamers by watch time that Nielsen relegates it to the “other streaming” category of a pie chart.

From Slate ● Jan. 16, 2025

The move relegates Miller Moss to a reserve role after nine uneven starts this season.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2024

His fundamental hypothesis relegates to God all forces in their ultimate origin.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 2 "Demijohn" to "Destructor" by Various

"The catastrophe occupies almost the entire image and yet somehow appears relegated to the background," the French daily said, adding the photo painted an uncomfortable portrait of a generation.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

And there’s likely a good reason for that: The term is typically only deployed by those comfortable being relegated as fringe, and Lamb seeks broad popularity.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026

Take Rian Johnson, whose deal with Netflix has led to his “Knives Out” films being relegated to tiny theatrical release windows in limited markets before being tossed onto the streamer.

From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026

Central midfielder Witsel, 37, who left relegated Girona at the end of the La Liga season, was brought on for a single minute at the end of the win over the USA.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

Erma relegated us to the basement after that.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

The crown jewels of the arcade industry, they occupy the building's first two floors, relegating video games to the basement and upper levels.

From Barron's ● Dec. 26, 2025

Cerebras inscribed the memory directly on to the wafer rather than relegating it to distant chips and chiplets in high-bandwidth memory mazes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2025

And there I go, relegating the white-ball team to a second-tier status.

From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2025

CNN conservative Scott Jennings isn't even that kind, relegating the idea of an American woman president to the only places we've ever seen it: in fictional TV and movies.

From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2024

Surely it is an error to banish the orchard and the fruit garden from the pleasure-grounds of modern houses, strictly relegating them to the rear, as if something to be ashamed of.

From Wild Life in a Southern County by Jefferies, Richard

Related Words

• consign
• entrust
• refer