Meaning & use
delegate
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A person chosen to speak, vote or act on behalf of a group at a meeting or conference.
Grammar: Countable and often followed by to or from: a delegate to the convention, a delegate from Spain.
Patterns
- a delegate to something
- a delegate from somewhere
- a delegate of something
Each state sent a delegate to the national convention.
The delegates voted to accept the new rules.
A delegate from the teachers' union spoke first.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To give part of your work or authority to someone else so that they can do it for you.
Grammar: Often delegate something to someone: delegate the task to an assistant. It can stand alone: good leaders delegate. Pronounced /ˈdelɪɡeɪt/.
Patterns
- delegate something to someone
- delegate to someone
- delegate responsibility
The manager delegated the report to a junior colleague.
She struggles to delegate and tries to do everything herself.
Mayors may delegate some authority to local committees.
verbtransitiveformal
To choose someone to represent you or to carry out a task, or to send them as your representative.
Grammar: Takes an object and often a to-infinitive: she was delegated to speak for the class.
Patterns
- delegate someone to do something
- be delegated to something
The club delegated two members to attend the meeting.
I was delegated to collect the money.
The committee delegated him to negotiate the contract.
Word forms
| third person singular | delegates |
|---|---|
| past tense | delegated |
| past participle | delegated |
| -ing form | delegating |
| plural | delegates |
Common combinations
- delegate a task
- You should delegate a task when you have too much to do.
- delegate authority
- The director delegated authority to the department heads.
- convention delegate
- Each convention delegate received a badge.
- elected delegate
- An elected delegate represented the students.
- delegate responsibility
- Good teachers delegate responsibility to their pupils.
- delegate to
- Learn to delegate to people you trust.
Synonyms and how they differ
- representative
- Representative is a general word for anyone who speaks for others, whereas delegate usually suggests a person sent to a particular meeting.
- envoy
- An envoy is sent on a diplomatic mission, while a delegate attends a meeting or votes.
- assign
- Assign means to give a task to someone, but it does not require passing on your own authority as delegate does.
- entrust
- Entrust stresses trust in the person receiving the responsibility, while delegate stresses passing the work on.
Opposites
Word family
- delegation noun
- A group of delegates, or the act of delegating
- delegated adjective
- Passed on to someone else
- delegator noun
- A person who gives out tasks or authority
- delegable adjective
- Able to be handed to someone else
Commonly confused: delegate or relegate? delegate or deputy?
delegate vs relegate
Relegate means to move something or someone to a lower position, not to pass on authority.
delegate vs deputy
A deputy is a second-in-command who may act in the leader's place, while a delegate acts for a group at a meeting.
Practice
The busy director decided to ____ the weekly reports to her assistant.
Choose one answer.
Delegate something to someone means to give them the job. Relegate sounds similar but means to put into a lower position.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “delegate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.