deputy

English Online Dictionary. What means deputy‎? What does deputy mean?

English

Alternative forms

• deputee (archaic)

Etymology

From French député, from Late Latin deputatus (“appointed”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛpjəti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛpjəti/, /ˈdɛpəti/

Noun

deputy (plural deputies)

1. One appointed as the substitute of others, and empowered to act for them, in their name or their behalf; a substitute in office.

   Synonyms: lieutenant, representative, delegate, vice, vicegerent

2. (mining, historical) A person employed to install and remove props, brattices, etc. and to clear gas, for the safety of the miners.
3. (government) The name for a member of parliament in some countries.
   1. A member of the French National Assembly.
   2. (historical) A member of the French Chamber of Deputies, formerly called Corps Législatif.
   3. (Ireland, often capitalized) A member of Dáil Éireann, or the title of a member of Dáil Éireann.

4. (US) a law enforcement officer who works for the county sheriff's office; a deputy sheriff or sheriff's deputy; the entry level rank in such an agency.

Usage notes

Deputy is used in combination with the names of various executive officers, to denote an assistant empowered to act in their name; as, deputy collector, deputy marshal, deputy sheriff. In the British coal mining industry, the word referred to as a deputy overman, which was roughly akin to a foreman in other industries.

Synonyms

• substitute
• representative
• legate
• delegate
• envoy
• agent
• See also Thesaurus:deputy

Hyponyms

• vice admiral
• vice director
• vicegerent
• vice president

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• vice-

Verb

deputy (third-person singular simple present deputies, present participle deputying, simple past and past participle deputied)

1. (informal, nonstandard) to deputise

Further reading

• “deputy”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “deputy”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “deputy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “deputy”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “deputy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “deputy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “deputy” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.