From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdedicateded‧i‧cate /ˈdedɪkeɪt/ ●○○ verb [transitive] 1 SPEND TIMEto give all your attention and effort to one particular thingdedicate yourself/your life to something The actress now dedicates herself to children’s charity work.2 SAY/STATEto say at the beginning of a book or film, or before a piece of music, that it has been written, made, or performed for someone that you love or respectdedicate something to somebody The book was dedicated to her husband.3 SAY/STATEto state in an official ceremony that a building will be given someone’s name in order to show respect for them4 to use a place, time, money etc only for a particular purposededicate something to/for something The company dedicated $50,000 for the study.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
dedicate• They were dedicating a new runway at the airport.• The new buildings were dedicated on Saturday 22 May 1976.• We dedicated ourselves as a team, that we were going to be in shape.• And thirdly, he has dedicated some of his time and energy to raising a collection for the poor Christians in Jerusalem.• And a crop of sites are dedicated to savers and investors who hold assets outside their home countries.• Instead, justice is a commodity designed by a hierarchy of judges still dedicated to the interests of Power.• He renounces all possibility of a happy life in favor of a solitary one dedicated to work.dedicate yourself/your life to something• Spurred by the horrors he witnessed in war, Cheshire dedicated his life to caring for others after it was over.• They are the ordinary citizens for whom the honours system was designed - people who have dedicated their lives to duty.• Gave his fortune to the poor, then dedicated his life to education.• You can think about it, talk about it, write about it, dedicate your life to it.• Then he dedicated his life to music and the pursuit of women, and we found we had things in common.• Benavides dedicated himself to preserving Peru's environment.• Former colleagues described Hoster as a hard-charging military journalist who dedicated her life to the Army.• For two years Jim was alternately exhilarated and terrified by the prospect of dedicating his life to the Church.• Many dedicate their lives to worship.dedicate something to somebody• Greene dedicated the book to his mother.• Murphy Hall is dedicated to one of the university's chancellors.Origin dedicate (1400-1500) Latin dedicare, from dicare “to say publicly” 