delegation
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the act of giving some of your work, duties, or power to someone else.
the assignment of authority or responsibility to another person, typically from a manager to a subordinate.
Simple“Effective delegation is important for managers who want to avoid burnout.”
In context“The CEO's failure to practice effective delegation resulted in a bottleneck where every minor decision required her personal approval.”
UsageOften used as an uncountable noun in management contexts.
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
a group of people chosen to represent their company, country, or organization at a meeting.
a body of delegates chosen to represent a larger group, especially at a formal conference or diplomatic event.
Simple“A large delegation from France arrived for the climate summit.”
In context“The trade delegation spent three days negotiating the terms of the new bilateral agreement with their counterparts in Tokyo.”
UsageUsually a countable noun.
Synonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
the act of passing a legal duty or debt to another person.
the act by which a debtor or obligor assigns the performance of an obligation to another party.
Simple“The contract allows for the delegation of duties to a third party.”
In context“In contract law, delegation refers to the transfer of duties, whereas assignment refers to the transfer of rights to receive benefits.”
UsageRefers specifically to the transfer of duties rather than rights.
Synonymsassignmentnovation - 04 C1 Advanced
a way for one part of a computer program to use the functions of another part.
a technique where an object handles a request by passing it to a second object, often used as an alternative to inheritance.
Simple“The developer used delegation instead of inheritance to keep the code flexible.”
In context“By employing delegation, the class can dynamically change its behavior at runtime by swapping the delegate object it refers to.”
UsageCommon in object-oriented programming patterns.
SynonymsAntonyms
“Meanwhile, a delegation from the African Union’s Peace and Security Council is expected to arrive in Khartoum on Saturday for a three-day visit, its second since the war began.”
“The NTSB sent a delegation which included technical experts from Boeing, which made the plane itself and GE Aerospace, which built the engines, as well as the US aviation regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.”
Borrowed from Latin dēlēgātiō, dēlēgātiōnis, from dēlēgō: compare French délégation.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.