MEANING
1. To put someone or something in a less important position, role, or place.
2. To banish or send someone away, especially in an older formal use.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- relegate to the background
- relegate to a minor role
On the page
The report relegated the witness’s uncertainty to a footnote.
She had been relegated to a minor role in the household she once managed.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- relegate
- Past tense
- relegated
- Past participle
- relegated
- Present participle
- relegating
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- relegate
- Present continuous
- am/is/are relegating
- Present perfect
- have/has relegated
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been relegating
- Past
- relegated
- Past continuous
- was/were relegating
- Past perfect
- had relegated
- Past perfect continuous
- had been relegating
- Future
- will relegate
- Future continuous
- will be relegating
- Future perfect
- will have relegated
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been relegating
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: relegate; relegates; relegated; relegated; relegating Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: relegates.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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