relocate
Americanverb (used with object)
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relocates,
present (3rd person singular)
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relocated,
past participle, past
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relocating
present participle
verb (used without object)
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relocates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
relocated,
past participle, past
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relocating
present participle
verb
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to move or be moved to a new place, esp (of an employee, a business, etc) to a new area or place of employment
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(intr) (of an employee, a business, etc) to move for reasons of business to a new area or place of employment
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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relocatesimple
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relocatessimple
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have relocatedperfect
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has relocatedperfect
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am relocatingprogressive
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are relocatingprogressive
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is relocatingprogressive
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have been relocatingperfect progressive
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has been relocatingperfect progressive
Past
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relocatedsimple
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had relocatedperfect
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was relocatingprogressive
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were relocatingprogressive
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had been relocatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of relocate
Explanation
When you relocate, you move to a new location and settle into a new place. If you live in New York City but you get a job in Phoenix, you'll have to relocate to Arizona to start your new career. The word relocate came into English in the 1800s from re, meaning "back, again," and locate, meaning "to settle." Relocate refers not only to moving to a new place but also to establishing yourself there. It typically involves finding a new place to live, making new friends, finding your way around your new town or city — even getting cable TV installed. For some people, this can be an exciting adventure; for others, it's a daunting challenge of to-do lists.
Vocabulary lists containing relocate
"When Cultures Meet"
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Word Generation Weekly - Series 1
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Lesson 1
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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:
“Didn’t really have to relocate to do the thing that I love.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Carmarthenshire Council issued Wale with an enforcement notice alleging he had broken planning rules, but he has been given more time to relocate the animals.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
She went on to share that her close friends Meme Shahan and Hailee Clark will soon relocate to the compound, where she also plans to help care for their animals.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Top delegates to the Pacific talks will hold a one-day retreat on low-lying Tuvalu, a small island nation laying plans to relocate the population if it is consumed by the ocean.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
During the summers, we would relocate to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where Jimmie and I would work as chauffeur and maid for the Belchers, a wealthy White family in the lumber industry.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
Eventually, with the help of a former colleague in Tokyo who’s become an antiques importer in Washington state, Rika flees her husband and relocates with Naomi, under a new name, to Seattle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Qiu's research suggests pollution is shifting west as heavy industry relocates to regions like Xinjiang, and that some cities in China have seen double-digit percentage increases in PM2.5 in the last five years.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
After the family relocates to Connecticut from New York, Delia can’t help but turn their quaint, historical home into a gaudy spectacle full of terrible, modern-gothic artwork.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026
In the winter, she relocates to the outskirts of Dehradun, near the Himalayan foothills.
From BBC ● Nov. 27, 2024
General Douglas MacArthur, the officer in charge of the United States Army Forces in the Far East, abandons his home in Manila and relocates to the fortified island of Corregidor.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
The Victorian was originally constructed in 1903 and was located at 1003 Ocean Ave. In 1977, the structure was relocated to 2640 Main St., along with the Heritage Museum’s “Roy Jones House.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
The location had been reserved by FTX, which along with Bankman-Fried had recently relocated to the Bahamas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
Kennedy and her family left Northern Ireland when she was 12 in the 1970s and relocated to the Republic of Ireland where she found herself an outsider in a small, rural village.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Entire villages have been relocated, although it's hard to pin down the number or what compensation residents were offered.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
When Dorothy was eight, the family relocated to Morgantown, West Virginia, where her father accepted a job working for a successful Negro restaurateur.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
That the orangutan's original habitats had been burned and fragmented to the point they could no longer sustain the primates was the main driving factor behind relocating them, Yiara said.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Klitschko said residents with friends or relatives outside Kyiv should consider temporarily relocating -- repeating a suggestion that had triggered a backlash last year.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Such changes will vary in cost and might mean adding a stairlift, better lighting, handrails, nonslip surfaces, a safer bathroom or even relocating a bedroom to the main floor.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
Some tech executives have been relocating or moving their assets to try to avoid the potential tax.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
“No, we’re relocating closer to your mother’s house.”
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
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.
