Delegate

/ˈdɛlɪɡət/ · noun

Meaning

A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy..

Definitions by Sense

1. A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.
2. A representative at a conference, etc.
3. (US) An appointed representative in some legislative bodies.
4. (computing) A type of variable storing a reference to a method with a particular signature, analogous to a function pointer.
5. A member of a governmental legislature who lacks voting power.
6. (intransitive) To commit tasks and responsibilities to others, especially subordinates.
7. (transitive) To commit (a task or responsibility) to someone, especially a subordinate.
8. (computing, Internet, transitive) (of a subdomain) To give away authority over a subdomain; to allow someone else to create sub-subdomains of a subdomain of one's own.

Example Sentences

Historically, all viable frameworks have always provided a mechanism to implement callbacks. C# goes one step further and encapsulates callbacks into callable objects called delegates.

The house of delegates in apartheid-era South Africa lacked any real voting power.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was perceived to delegate effectively. Wayne Mapp, a minister under Key observed he had 'a different style than the traditional style of New Zealand political management. He delegates in the manner of a chief executive, and lets ministers get on with their jobs' (Mapp 2014).

The war on Covid-19 was delegated to the health secretary, Matt Hancock, a paralysed NHS and scientists publicly feuding over dud data.

Synonyms for delegate

Antonyms for delegate

Related Words

Word Forms

• delegates
• delegating
• delegated

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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