deputy

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 another, 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.

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

• 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 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• deputy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “deputy” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.