Meaning & use
relocate
Last updated
Meanings
verbintransitive
To move to a new place to live or work.
Grammar: No object; commonly followed by to or from: relocate to Leeds.
Patterns
- relocate to a city
- relocate abroad
- relocate for work
After the promotion, they decided to relocate to Singapore.
Many graduates relocate for work and return home later.
verbtransitivebusiness
To move a person, business, or thing to a new place.
Grammar: Takes an object: relocate the warehouse. Use move for everyday informal contexts.
Patterns
- relocate a business
- relocate employees
- relocate operations
The company plans to relocate its support team closer to customers.
Villagers were relocated before the new reservoir filled.
Word forms
| third person singular | relocates |
|---|---|
| past tense | relocated |
| past participle | relocated |
| -ing form | relocating |
Common combinations
- relocate to
- She will relocate to the regional office in June.
- relocate from
- The lab relocated from the old campus last year.
- relocate operations
- They relocated operations to reduce shipping costs.
- help employees relocate
- The contract helps employees relocate with their families.
Synonyms and how they differ
- move
- The everyday choice; relocate is more formal and common in business or official reports.
- transfer
- Often means changing position, department, or posting rather than changing city entirely.
- resettle
- Used especially for people moved to a new home after displacement or disaster.
Opposites
Word family
- relocation noun
- The act or process of moving.
- relocatable adjective
- Able to be moved and set up elsewhere.
Commonly confused: relocate or relegate?
relocate vs relegate
Relegate means demote or assign to a lower position; relocate means move to a new place.
Practice
Choose the best completion: “The firm will relocate its headquarters ______ Toronto.”
Choose one answer.
Relocate is followed by to for a destination: relocate to Toronto. Into suggests movement inside a container, and at marks location, not movement toward it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “relocate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.