Delegation is the act of nominating an entity to act on behalf of another entity. Somewhat reminiscent of traditional political structures, delegation involves handing over voting (governance) rights to a trusted party.
Within the world of digital assets, Delegation is a hybrid attempt at fair governance applied to consensus mechanisms. By delegating, end users are still able to participate (minimally) in network governance while delegates are able to amass influence over a network. Delegated structres require less overhead in terms of communication and organization, thereby reducing the time needed to process activity.