relegate

English

WOTD - 6 January 2012    

Etymology 1

First attested in 1561: from relēgāt-, the perfect passive participial stem of relēgō ² (“I dispatch”, “I banish”).

Alternative forms

• religate [17ᵗʰ C.]

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: rĕʹlĭgāt, IPA: /ˈɹɛlɪɡeɪt/, SAMPA: /"r\ElIgeIt/

Verb

relegate (third-person singular simple present relegates, present participle relegating, simple past and past participle relegated)

1. Exile, banish, remove, or send away.
   1. (transitive, done to a person) Exile or banish to a particular place.
   2. (reflexive, obsolete, rare) Remove (oneself) to a distance from something or somewhere.
   3. (transitive, Roman history, done to a person) Banish from proximity to Rome for a set time; compare relegate ².
      • 2002, Mark Morford, The Roman Philosophers, ISBN 0-415-18852-0, page 183:

        Eventually his freedom of speech drove Vespasian to relegate him a second time, and shortly after he was executed […] .

   4. (transitive, figuratively) Remove or send to a place far away.
2. (transitive, in extended use) Consign or assign.
   1. Consign (a person or thing) to a place, position, or role of obscurity, insignificance, oblivion, or (especially) inferiority.
   2. Assign (a thing) to an appropriate place or situation based on appraisal or classification.
   3. (sports, chiefly soccer) Transfer (a sports team) to a lower-ranking league division.
3. (transitive) Refer or submit.
   1. Refer (a point of contention) to an authority in deference to the judgment thereof.
   2. Submit (something) to someone else for appropriate action thereby; compare delegate.
   3. (now rare) Submit or refer (someone) to someone or something else for some reason or purpose.

Derived terms

• relegated, relegating

Related terms

• relegation

Translations

to exile

Finnish: karkottaa (fi) Russian: ссылать (ru) (1.1)

Spanish: relegar (es)

to consign

Finnish: alentaa (fi), sijoittaa (fi)

Russian: низводить (ru) (2.1)

to refer

Finnish: siirtää (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

French: reléguer (fr) Hungarian: száműz (hu), leminősít (hu)

References

• “relegate, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2ⁿᵈ Ed.; 1989]
• “relegate, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; Mar. 2010]

Etymology 2

First attested circa 1550: from the Classical Latin relēgātus (“banished person”, “exile”), the nominative singular masculine substantive form of relēgātus, the perfect passive participle of relēgō ² (“I dispatch”, “I banish”).

Alternative forms

• relagate [16ᵗʰ C.]

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: rĕʹlĭgət, IPA: /ˈɹɛlɪɡət/, SAMPA: /"r\ElIg@t/

Noun

relegate (plural relegates)

1. (Roman history, obsolete) A person who has been banished from proximity to Rome for a set time, but without losing his civil rights.

References

• “†ˈrelegate, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2ⁿᵈ Ed.; 1989]
• “†relegate, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; Dec. 2009]

Etymology 3

First attested circa 1425: from the Classical Latin relēgātus, the perfect passive participle of relēgō ² (“I dispatch”, “I banish”).

Alternative forms

relegat [15ᵗʰ C.]

religait (Scots, [16ᵗʰ C.])

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: rĕʹlĭgət, IPA: /ˈɹɛlɪɡət/, SAMPA: /"r\ElIg@t/

Adjective

relegate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete except archaic, past participial) Relegated; exiled.

References

• “†relegate, adj.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; June 2010]

Anagrams

• regelate

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Esperanto

Adverb

relegate

1. present adverbial passive participle of relegi

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA: /re.leˈɡa.te/
• Hyphenation: re‧le‧gà‧te

Verb

relegate

1. second-person plural present indicative of relegare
2. second-person plural imperative of relegare
3. Feminine plural of relegato

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Latin

Verb

relēgāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of relēgō