Meaning & use
relay
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To receive a message or news and pass it on to another person.
Grammar: Takes an object: relay a message; often followed by to: relay it to the team.
Patterns
- relay something to someone
- relay a message
Please relay my thanks to your parents.
The assistant relayed the doctor's instructions to the family.
Pilots relay weather updates to the control tower.
verbtransitivetechnical
To send a signal, broadcast or data onward through a station or device.
Grammar: Takes an object: the satellite relays television signals.
Patterns
- relay something to something
- relay something via something
The satellite relays the broadcast to ground stations.
A tower on the hill relays radio signals across the valley.
Cameras relayed live pictures to the control room.
nouncountablesport
A race in which each member of a team runs or swims one section and hands over to the next.
Grammar: Countable and often a modifier: a relay race.
Patterns
- a relay race
- the 4x100 relay
Our team won the relay by a single second.
She ran the final leg of the 400 meter relay.
The school holds a relay on sports day.
nouncountabletechnical
A device that opens or closes an electric circuit in response to a small signal, or a station that passes on signals.
Grammar: Countable in engineering: the relay switched off the pump.
Patterns
- a relay switch
- a relay station
A faulty relay stopped the heater from turning on.
The mountain relay carries mobile phone signals.
Engineers replaced the relay in the control box.
Word forms
| third person singular | relays |
|---|---|
| past tense | relayed |
| past participle | relayed |
| -ing form | relaying |
| plural noun | relays |
Common combinations
- relay a message
- Could you relay a message to Tom for me?
- relay information
- Scouts relayed information about the enemy's position.
- relay race
- The relay race ended with a dramatic handover.
- relay team
- The relay team trained every morning.
- relay station
- A relay station boosts the signal on long routes.
- relay the news
- She relayed the news to her brother.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pass on
- Pass on is the casual phrasal verb and suits messages between friends, while relay can suggest a more official or technical chain.
- convey
- Convey stresses getting a meaning or feeling across, not necessarily passing exact words.
- transmit
- Transmit is more technical and is used for signals or diseases as well as messages.
- forward
- Forward is used for letters and emails sent on unchanged.
Opposites
Word family
- relayed adjective
- passed along through a chain
- relayer noun
- rare; one who passes something on
- relaying noun
- the act of passing something on
Commonly confused: relay or delay? relay or re-lay?
relay vs delay
Delay means to make something late. Relay means to pass something along, and the two sound similar.
relay vs re-lay
Re-lay, with a hyphen and a different stress, means to lay again, as in re-lay a carpet.
Practice
The reporter ______ the senator's reply to the audience because the microphone was not working.
Choose one answer.
Relayed means passed the words on to others. Delayed means made late, relaxed means became calm, and replayed means played again, none of which fits.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “relay”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.