Meaning & use
subrogate
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Meaning
verbtransitivelegalfinance
To put one person, company, or legal party in the place of another so that rights or claims pass to the substitute, especially in insurance.
Grammar: Formal and usually followed by a party or right: subrogate the insurer to the claim.
Patterns
- subrogate someone to a claim
- right to subrogate
- subrogate the insurer
The policy lets the insurer subrogate the company to the injured driver's claim.
After paying the claim, the agency may subrogate its rights against the manufacturer.
The contract explains when the bank can subrogate a creditor.
Word forms
| third person singular | subrogates |
|---|---|
| past tense | subrogated |
| past participle | subrogated |
| -ing form | subrogating |
Common combinations
- right of subrogation
- The right of subrogation lets an insurer pursue the party at fault.
- subrogation claim
- A subrogation claim can recover money already paid to the customer.
- subrogate rights
- The agreement will subrogate rights to the lender after default.
Synonyms and how they differ
- substitute
- Substitute is general; subrogate is a precise legal replacement of one party for another in a right or claim.
- assign
- Assign transfers rights broadly, often by agreement; subrogate commonly follows payment and legal substitution.
Word family
- subrogation noun
- The legal process by which one party takes over another's claim or right.
Commonly confused: subrogate or submerge?
subrogate vs submerge
Submerge means to go under liquid; subrogate means legal substitution.
Practice
After an insurer pays a driver, it may ___ the claim against the driver who caused the crash.
Choose one answer.
Subrogate fits because one party takes over another's legal claim after payment. Stream and stem are unrelated verbs here, and stimulate means to increase activity.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “subrogate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.