dedicate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause
    devote; commit; consecrate; give.
    • She committed herself to the work of God
    • give one's talents to a good cause
    • consecrate your life to the church
  2. verb open to public use, as of a highway, park, or building
    • The Beauty Queen spends her time dedicating parks and nursing homes
  3. verb inscribe or address by way of compliment
    • She dedicated her book to her parents
  4. verb set apart to sacred uses with solemn rites, of a church

WordNet


Ded"i*cate participial adjective
Etymology
L. dedicatus, p. p. of dedicare to affirm, to dedicate; de- + dicare to declare, dedicate; akin to dicere to say. See Diction.
Definitions
  1. Dedicated; set apart; devoted; consecrated. "Dedicate to nothing temporal." Shak. Syn. -- Devoted; consecrated; addicted.
Ded"i*cate transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Dedicated; present participle & verbal noun Dedicating
Definitions
  1. To set apart and consecrate, as to a divinity, or for sacred uses; to devote formally and solemnly; as, to dedicate vessels, treasures, a temple, or a church, to a religious use.
    Vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, . . . which also king David did dedicate unto the Lord. 2 Sam. viii. 10, 11.
    We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. . . . But in a larger sense we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. A. Lincoln.
  2. To devote, set apart, or give up, as one's self, to a duty or service.
    The profession of a soldier, to which he had dedicated himself. Clarendon.
  3. To inscribe or address, as to a patron.
    He complied ten elegant books, and dedicated them to the Lord Burghley. Peacham.
    Syn. -- See Addict.

Webster 1913