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.

   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.

   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. (France) A member of the Chamber of Deputies, formerly called Corps Législatif.
4. (Ireland) a member of Dáil Éireann, or the title of a member of Dáil Éireann. (Normally capitalised in both cases).

   Eamon Ryan is a deputy in the Dáil.

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

5. (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.

6. (government) The name for a member of parliament in some countries.

   The State Duma comprises 450 deputies.

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
• 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 the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• deputy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “deputy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “deputy” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.