Definition of devote in English:

transitive verb

• 1devote something toGive all or a large part of one's time or resources to (a person, activity, or cause)

  ‘I wanted to devote more time to my family’

  ‘she devoted herself to fundraising’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Therefore, devoting substantial staff resources to training, organizing, leading, and sustaining family psychoeducation is seen as a luxury.’
  • ‘And the authority has praised Mr Hampson as a ‘committed and devoted teacher’ who worked tirelessly throughout the year.’
  • ‘It is incumbent upon all Muslims to devote a proportion of their excess income to the support of religious and charitable works.’
  • ‘He's taken up freight delivery now that he has left the Army to devote his efforts to finding the gun runner.’
  • ‘He retired from the army in 1910 to devote his energies to the Boy Scout movement he had founded several years earlier.’
  • ‘Like Franklin D. Roosevelt, his efforts at first were devoted to preventing further weakening of an army that many, Hitler among them, regarded as irrelevant.’
  • ‘Those over 35 suffered most from devoting their energies to family life while holding down a career - 90% said their relationship had been badly affected.’
  • ‘Grady prefers to remain in stiflingly hot New York, devoting her summer to crossing social boundaries by conducting a secret liaison with Clyde Manzer, a working-class Jewish car park attendant some years her senior.’
  • ‘Although conceptions about the subject have indeed evolved, there still remains a relatively close bond between young adults and their traditional morals of settling down and devoting themselves to a family life.’
  • ‘It showed us the plight of Pam, a 50-something still-attractive widow who, having raised at least one daughter, is now devoting her middle years to the care of her ageing mother, Olive.’
  • ‘‘The best chef in the country told me I had a talent and that I could work in his restaurant any time,’ said Claire, who had been unsure about devoting her life to cooking until Ramsay sang her praises.’
  • ‘But this book is not just about the sport's elite competitors but also acknowledges those club athletes who are far from the sharp end of the field, despite devoting hours to training each week in all weathers.’
  • ‘After undergoing a second liver transplant himself, Pat is taking life a little easier and is devoting himself full-time to tending to his garden in between hospital check-ups.’
  • ‘The farmhouses were $80-100,000, and I didn't relish devoting our lives and cash we don't have to restoring them.’
  • ‘I also came to express my thanks to the artists who are devoting their time and talents to such a vital cause.’
  • ‘The former slaves of Saint Domingue and Guadeloupe abandoned plantation toil whenever they could, instead devoting themselves to subsistence cultivation.’
  • ‘The people who have trouble finding part time work are well-off women like me, in desireable careers, who want to keep their hand in while devoting themselves to raising their children.’
  • ‘We cannot say how much it costs us, but it will mean a lot of staff devoting time to carry out the audit and we would not do that lightly.’
  • ‘This man in his 40s, who wants to remain completely anonymous, hopes to be able to stop working, thanks to this sale, and realize an old dream: devoting himself to painting.’
  • ‘It needs about $100,000 a year to operate, and the few volunteers they have are devoting a disproportionate number of their hours to raising money, taking time away from what they want to be doing inside.’

  Synonyms

  allocate, assign, allot, commit, give, give over, afford, apportion, surrender, consign, sacrifice, pledge, dedicate, consecrate

  View synonyms

• 2archaic Invoke or pronounce a curse upon.

  ‘the hostile army was devoted with dire execrations to the gods of war’

  More example sentences

  • ‘And the hostile army was devoted with dire execrations to the gods of war and of thunder.’
  • ‘The priestesses and priests turning towards the setting sun, the dwelling of the infernal gods, devoted with curses the sacrilegious wretch.’