Meaning & use
consign
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Meanings
verbtransitiveformal
To put someone or something in a particular place or condition, often one that is hard to escape or that signals rejection.
Grammar: Takes an object plus to: consign the files to the basement.
Patterns
- consign something to something
- consign someone to something
The committee consigned the proposal to a drawer, where it was soon forgotten.
The old sofa was consigned to the garage after the move.
The defeat consigned the team to the bottom of the league.
verbtransitivebusiness
To send goods to a person or business for delivery, or to leave them with a seller who is paid only when they sell.
Grammar: Takes an object and often to: consign goods to a dealer.
Patterns
- consign something to someone
- consign something for sale
She consigned her grandmother's jewelry to an auction house.
The farmer consigned twenty crates of apples to the wholesale market.
The shop only takes clothes that owners consign for resale.
Word forms
| third person singular | consigns |
|---|---|
| past tense | consigned |
| past participle | consigned |
| -ing form | consigning |
Common combinations
- consign to oblivion
- The film was consigned to oblivion within a week of its release.
- consign to history
- New technology has consigned the typewriter to history.
- consign to the scrap heap
- The outdated machines were consigned to the scrap heap.
- consign goods
- Dealers often consign goods to a larger warehouse.
- consign to the care of
- The child was consigned to the care of an aunt.
Synonyms and how they differ
- relegate
- Relegate stresses moving someone or something down to a lower position, while consign can also mean sending to a fixed fate or place.
- banish
- Banish means forcing something away completely, often with more drama than consign.
- entrust
- Entrust means handing something over because you trust the person, whereas consign is often negative or final.
- dispatch
- Dispatch means sending something off quickly, and lacks the sense of leaving it in a place or fate.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: consign or assign?
consign vs assign
Assign means to give someone a task or role, while consign means to hand something over or send it to a place or fate.
Practice
The new law will ______ many old paper forms to the recycling bin.
Choose one answer.
Consign to something means to send or leave in a place or fate. Assign needs a person or task, so it does not fit with 'to the recycling bin'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “consign”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.