devolve
verb
Simple meaning
To transfer authority and responsibility for to.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihvahlvSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪˈvɑlv
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
(especially of a central government to a local one, a federal one to a federated one, etc.) To transfer authority and responsibility for (something) to (another entity).
transitive
To delegate (a responsibility, duty, etc.) on or upon someone.
especially of government authority
To shift or to be transferred from a central government to a local one, a federal one to a federated one, etc.
intransitive
To fall as a duty or responsibility on or upon someone.
intransitive
To be inherited by someone else; to pass down upon the next person in a succession, especially through failure or loss of an earlier holder.
intransitive
To degenerate; to break down.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (especially of a central government to a local one, a federal one to a federated one, etc.) To transfer authority and responsibility for (something) to (another entity).
Used this way, devolve is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use devolve
- “The representative devolved his duties to his aides while he was in the hospital.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- autonomynoun
- constitutionnoun
- parliamentnoun
- successionnoun
- interimnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: (especially of a central government to a local one
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.