consign
/kən'sain/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb:
- To send something to a person or place, typically for sale or safekeeping: The core meaning involves transferring goods or items to someone's custody, often with a formal or commercial purpose.
- To assign or deliver something into the care or possession of another: This meaning focuses on entrusting something or someone to another party's responsibility.
- To commit decisively or permanently: A more figurative sense, meaning to assign to a particular state, fate, or course, often one that is unavoidable.
Usage and Examples
- Verb:
- The manufacturer will consign the new shipment to our warehouse. (This shows sending goods to a specific location.)
- She decided to consign her old furniture to a local auction house. (This illustrates giving items to an agent for sale.)
- The court consigned the child to the custody of her grandparents. (This demonstrates entrusting a person to someone's care.)
- With that mistake, he consigned the project to failure. (This is a figurative use, meaning to commit to an unfortunate outcome.)
Advanced Usage
- "to be consigned to oblivion/history": To be permanently forgotten or relegated to the past.
- Many old traditions have been consigned to history.
- "to consign something to the flames": To deliberately burn or destroy something.
- He consigned the incriminating letters to the flames.
Variants and Related Words
- Consignment (n): A batch of goods sent or delivered, especially for sale.
- The store sells clothing on consignment.
- Consignee (n): The person or place to which something is consigned.
- Consignor (n): The person or company that consigns goods.
Synonyms
- Entrust: To assign the responsibility for something to someone.
- Commit: To pledge or assign to a particular course or outcome.
- Deliver: To bring and hand over something.
- Transfer: To move something from one place or person to another.
Related Phrasal Verbs/Constructions
(Note: "Consign" is not commonly used with particles to form phrasal verbs. Its meaning is typically conveyed directly or with prepositional phrases like "consign to.") - Consign to: This is the standard construction used with the verb. - They consigned the defective products to the scrap heap.
Related Idioms
- Consigned to the scrapheap: Thrown away as useless; discarded.
- The old manufacturing method was consigned to the scrapheap.
Verb
- send to an address
- give over to another for care or safekeeping
- consign your baggage
- commit forever; commit irrevocably