relegate
Americanverb (used with object)
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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.
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to consign or commit (a matter, task, etc.), as to a person.
He relegates the less pleasant tasks to his assistant.
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to assign or refer (something) to a particular class or kind.
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to send into exile; banish.
verb
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to move to a position of less authority, importance, etc; demote
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(usually passive) to demote (a football team, etc) to a lower division
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to assign or refer (a matter) to another or others, as for action or decision
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(foll by to) to banish or exile
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to assign (something) to a particular group or category
Other Word Forms
- relegable adjective
- relegatable adjective
- relegation noun
- unrelegable adjective
Etymology
Origin of relegate
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English from Latin relēgātus, past participle of relēgāre “to send away, dispatch”; re-, legate
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.
The club was relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2018-2019 season and then plummeted further to League One in April 2025.
From BBC
"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
But Gibbs hasn’t been relegated to the past and his name still comes up occasionally, including in the 500th episode case, though getting there for Binder was a journey.
From Los Angeles Times
"For one is entitled to wonder when, on its own soil, the league sometimes seems to be relegated to second place behind other ambitions, however legitimate they may be."
From BBC
What could we learn if we thought about movies outside of a straight stream of consumption, and what are we missing by relegating movie-watching to such an automatic process?
From Salon
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.
