deputy

• deputee (archaic)

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

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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

   the deputy of a prince

   The deputy sheriff was promoted after his senior retired.

   As the deputy store manager, he is able to fire staff.

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.

   The State Duma comprises 450 deputies.

   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.

      Eamon Ryan is a deputy in the Dáil.

      At today's meeting, Deputy Ryan will speak on local issues.

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.

   The sheriff's deputies took the suspect into custody.

   Deputy Jones was promoted to corporal today.

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.

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

• vice admiral
• vice director
• vicegerent
• vice president

• confused deputy
• deputise, deputize
• deputy first minister
• deputy prime minister

• vice-

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

1. (informal, nonstandard) to deputise

• “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.