How to use devolve in a sentence
19 example sentences · verb
Devolve means 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. Example: “Despite being a unitary state, the Government of the United Kingdom devolved many matters to the Governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
Examples of devolve by meaning
verbTo transfer authority and responsibility for (something) to (another entity).
- Despite being a unitary state, the Government of the United Kingdom devolved many matters to the Governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Shapps retains responsibility for rail safety in Scotland, with only the operation of track and train devolved to Transport Scotland.2020 August 26, “Network News: Shapps orders rapid review of flash flood resilience from NR”, in Rail, page 8
verbTo shift or to be transferred from a central government to a local one, a federal one to a federated one, etc.
- Many legislative powers devolved to the new Scottish parliament in 1999.
verbTo degenerate; to break down.
- A discussion about politics may devolve into a shouting match.
More sentences with devolve
- The cave frog's eyes have devolved into unseeing lumps.From the entry unseeing
- Weekly cover story, devolved into patronizing, parasitic parodies of "pink, frilly bedrooms."2010 October 10, Evelyn McDonnell, “Book Review: 'Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution' by Sara Marcus”, in Los…. From the entry eat someone alive
- The unsupervised forums, he said, had devolved into something less than Timesian.2010 December 11, Arthur S. Brisbane, “Readers With Plenty to Say”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company…. From the entry Timesian
- If not, the ballet devolves into something more like a mosh pit.2006, Alan S. Brown, “Virtual OR”, in Mechanical Engineering, volume 128, November 2006, page 32. From the entry mosh pit
- Thus, any attempt to write a biography of McClellan inevitably "devolves into a psychograph."1998, Thomas J. Rowland, George B. McClellan and Civil War History, →ISBN. From the entry psychograph
- "The intention, more widely, is to work collaboratively with all devolved leaders to meet local needs," he said.2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Will devolution deliver real local control?”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 47. From the entry quiz
- I have seen so much really credible evidence that the situation did not devolve the way we're being told it did.2025 September 23, Lawrence Wilkerson, Nima R Alkhorshid's Dialogue Works, YouTube. From the entry hold fire
- Responsibilization is not an inherent entailment of devolution; there are decidedly more empowering and more democratic potentials for devolved decision making.2015, Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution, →ISBN, page 134. From the entry responsibilization
- But if you devolve power and resources to local entities—the “let a thousand flowers bloom” approach— you get uneven results.2011, Michael Fullan, The Six Secrets of Change, page 12. From the entry let a thousand flowers bloom
- But halfway through, this stateliness devolves into the kind of marchy clatter that Wagner’s Italian counterparts were writing.2009 February 27, Allan Kozinn, “A Viennese Meal Served With the Dessert First”, in New York Times. From the entry marchy
- He maintained that the Bill gave Mayors "much enhanced power" and preserved the existing processes by which rail services can be devolved.2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Will devolution deliver real local control?”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 47. From the entry quiz
- At the encore, “Fun Stix Party” devolved into a raucous, peppy shoutfest that was also the most technically flamboyant song of the night.2009 July 11, Jon Caramanica, “The New-Old Country of 3 Pixies From Dixie”, in New York Times. From the entry shoutfest
- We described above how a solution to the problem of interpersonal feuding has been to devolve such feuds to an authority such as the police.2006, Keith Oatley, Dacher Keltner, Jennifer M Jenkins, Understanding Emotions. From the entry us-and-them
- Federalism itself is an antimajoritarian mechanism for, by devolving power to smaller constituencies, it places some policy issues beyond the reach of the center's majority.2004, Ugo M. Amoretti, Nancy Gina Bermeo, Federalism and Territorial Cleavages, →ISBN, page 10. From the entry antimajoritarian
- "Subject to the decision of our members, we have successfully negotiated significant pay increases for our members with the governments of the devolved nations," said ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan.2023 May 31, Mel Holley, “Network News: ASLEF recommends £71,000 pay deal for TfW drivers”, in RAIL, number 984, page 20. From the entry devolved
Meaning of devolve
- verb 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.
- verb To delegate (a responsibility, duty, etc.) on or upon someone.
- verb To transfer authority and responsibility for (something) to (another entity).
Questions about devolve in a sentence
- How do you use devolve in a sentence?
- Devolve is used as a verb. For example: “Despite being a unitary state, the Government of the United Kingdom devolved many matters to the Governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
- What is a short sentence with devolve?
- “The cave frog's eyes have devolved into unseeing lumps.”
- What does devolve mean?
- Devolve means 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.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: devolve (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use devolve in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/devolve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
