devolution
/diːvəˈluːʃən/
devolution noun: a rolling down.
Noun
devolution (plural devolutions)
- A rolling down.
- Synonyms:
- devolvement
- A descent, especially one that passes through a series of revolutions, or by succession.
- The transference of a right to a successor, or of a power from one body to another.
- Degeneration.
- It is quite disheartening to witness the devolution of our nation's political discourse over the past several years.
- He is the place where the devolution from Heaven and the evolution from earth meet.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 186
- Synonyms:
- degradation
- Antonyms:
- evolution, development
- The transfer of some powers and the delegation of some functions from a central government to local government (e.g. from the U.K. parliament to Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly).
- The question of whether England should receive devolution like Scotland and Wales have has dogged British politics for years.
- Governments like devolution because it gives ministers someone else to blame for problems.2020 November 4, Philip Haigh, “Cracks and divisions over funding for public transport”, in Rail, page 55
devolution meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
devolution in Tamil
- அதிகார மாற்றம், ஒப்படைப்பு, ஒப்படைவு, பொறுப்புரிமை ஒப்படைப்பு
devolution in Urdu
- تفویض
devolution in Malayalam
- decentralization, delegation, redistribution
- വികേന്ദ്രീകരണം, അധികാരവികേന്ദ്രീകരണം, അധികാരകെെമാറ്റം, സംക്രമണം, അധികാര സംക്രമണം, കെെമാറ്റം
devolution in Kannada
- ಆಸ್ತಿಪಾಸ್ತಿ, ಅವಸರನ, ವಹಿಸುವಿಕೆ
More languagesFewer languages
- devolution in Indonesian
- devolusi
Examples of devolution in a sentence
- At times, even the evidence offered by proclaimants of devolution is either wrong or fantastic.
- Changes are coming down the line - from GBR, Green Book, devolution, and how regions are funded and governed.
- Responsibilization is not an inherent entailment of devolution; there are decidedly more empowering and more democratic potentials for devolved decision making.
Synonyms of devolution
Antonyms
Forms of devolution
| plural | devolutions |
|---|
Origin of devolution
Borrowed from Middle French dévolution, from Medieval Latin devolutio, devolutionis, from Latin devolvo.
Words formed from devolution
Words that rhyme with devolution
- distribution
- resolution
- institution
- evolution
- involution
- ablution
- revolution
- convolution
- execution
- solution
- absolution
- constitution
26 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- dilution
- pollution
- restitution
- attribution
- circumlocution
- contribution
- destitution
- dissolution
- prosecution
- substitution
- diminution
- lilliputian
- prostitution
- Lucian
- robot revolution
- Rosicrucian
- Aleutian
- Confucian
- coresolution
- coupvolution
- Eeveelution
- elution
- nocturnal pollution
- persecution
- retribution
- robolution
Questions about devolution
- What does devolution mean?
- Devolution means a rolling down.
- What is devolution in Tamil?
- Devolution in Tamil is அதிகார மாற்றம், ஒப்படைப்பு, ஒப்படைவு. See Devolution meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is devolution?
- Devolution is a noun.
- How do you pronounce devolution?
- Devolution is pronounced /diːvəˈluːʃən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of devolution?
- The plural of devolution is devolutions.
Words near devolution in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: devolution (page history and authors); devolution (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); devolution (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); devolution (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); devolution (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-devolution.wav.
Cite this entry: “devolution.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/devolution. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.