DEVOLVE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does devolve mean? 

• DEVOLVE (verb)
  The verb DEVOLVE has 3 senses:

1. pass on or delegate to another

2. be inherited by

3. grow worse

  Familiarity information: DEVOLVE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEVOLVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they devolve    ... he / she / it devolves   
Past simple: devolved   
Past participle: devolved   
-ing form: devolving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pass on or delegate to another

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

The representative devolved his duties to his aides while he was in the hospital

Hypernyms (to "devolve" is one way to...):

assign; delegate; depute; designate (give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something to somebody

Derivation:

devolution; devolvement (the delegation of authority (especially from a central to a regional government))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be inherited by

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

devolve; fall; pass; return

Context example:

The estate devolved to an heir that everybody had assumed to be dead

Hypernyms (to "devolve" is one way to...):

change hands; change owners (be transferred to another owner)

Verb group:

accrue; fall (come into the possession of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "devolve"):

fall; light (fall to somebody by assignment or lot)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Grow worse

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

degenerate; deteriorate; devolve; drop

Context example:

The discussion devolved into a shouting match

Hypernyms (to "devolve" is one way to...):

decline; worsen (grow worse)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "devolve"):

fatigue; jade; pall; tire; weary (lose interest or become bored with something or somebody)

fade; languish (become feeble)

rot; waste (become physically weaker)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

The Allens, he believed, had lived near them too long, and he knew the young man on whom the Fullerton estate must devolve.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

But upon me had devolved the task of tending their wounds, and pulling them through, and I did my best by them.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It is not a subject on which I would willingly dwell, and yet I am conscious that a duty devolves upon me to omit no detail.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The son, a steady respectable young man, was amply provided for by the fortune of his mother, which had been large, and half of which devolved on him on his coming of age.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I figure to myself that the task of attending on your sickbed has devolved on some mercenary old nurse, who could never guess your wishes nor minister to them with the care and affection of your poor cousin.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The discussion of some topics, even with Mrs. Micawber herself (so long the partner of my various vicissitudes, and a woman of a remarkable lucidity of intellect), is, I am led to consider, incompatible with the functions now devolving on me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is no slight matter for two men, particularly when a stiff wind has sprung up, to handle a vessel like the Ghost, steering, keeping look-out for the boats, and setting or taking in sail; so it devolved upon me to learn, and learn quickly.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

So conscious was the manager of the responsibility which devolved upon him in consequence of the great interests at stake that safes of the very latest construction have been employed, and an armed watchman has been left day and night in the building.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)