devolution

«devolution» in Mova's school dictionary: Handing some powers from a central government to smaller… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (devolution; uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) (politics) Handing some powers from a central government to smaller regional governments or parliaments: «Devolution gave Scotland its own Parliament». tree →

2) (science, old) Change of a living thing into a simpler form; this idea is not used much in modern biology. tree →

3) (formal) Passing a job, duty or property on to someone else. tree →

sense in the lessons

In UK citizenship and history lessons, devolution in 1999 created the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly (now called the Senedd) and the Northern Ireland Assembly, which make laws on things like schools and health, while the UK Parliament in Westminster keeps other powers such as defence. Pupils compare this with federal systems such as the USA, Canada and Australia, where states or provinces have their own powers. Phrases: «Scottish devolution», «devolution of power», «devolved government».

examples

• Devolution gave Wales its own parliament, the Senedd. tree →
• Because of devolution, Scotland decides its own school system. tree →
• The Northern Ireland Assembly was set up through devolution. tree →
• Some people want more devolution to English cities. tree →
• Devolution means power moves from the centre to the regions. tree →
• In history we learned that devolution came in 1999. tree →

note

Uncountable. Verb: «devolve» (to pass power down); adjective «devolved» (devolved government). Trap: devolution is not independence; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are still part of the UK. Do not confuse with «evolution» (how living things change over time) or «revolution» (sudden overthrow or turning).

In the corpora

• Devolution means parts of the UK, like Scotland and Wales, make some of their own decisions, including about health.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «devolution» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.