devolve.
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.
Meaning & usage
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.
To delegate (a responsibility, duty, etc.) on or upon someone.
To delegate (a responsibility, duty, etc.) on or upon someone. To 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.
To fall as a duty or responsibility on or upon someone.
To fall as a duty or responsibility on or upon someone. To 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.
To degenerate; to break down.
A discussion about politics may devolve into a shouting match.
To roll (something) down; to unroll.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē- Proto-Indo-European *welH-der. Proto-Italic *wolwō Latin volvō Latin dēvolvōbor. English devolve Borrowed from Latin dēvolvō (“roll or tumble off or down”), from dē- + volvō (“roll”).
Try it on your idea.
devolve has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.