deputy

English

Alternative forms

• deputee (archaic)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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

   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. (United States): 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.

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

• deputy first minister
• deputy prime minister

Translations

representative

• Albanian: zëvendës (sq) m
• Arabic: نَائِب‎ m (nāʾib), نَائِبَة‎ f (nāʾiba)
• Armenian: պատգամավոր (hy) (patgamavor)
• Azerbaijani: müavin
• Belarusian: наме́снік m (namjésnik), наме́сніца f (namjésnica)
• Bulgarian: представи́тел (bg) m (predstavítel), заме́стник (bg) m (zaméstnik)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 代表 (zh) (dàibiǎo), 代理人 (zh) (dàilǐrén)

• Czech: zástupce (cs) m, zástupkyně f, náměstek (cs) m, náměstkyně f
• Danish: stedfortræder (da) c, vice-, næst-
• Dutch: vertegenwoordiger (nl) m, vertegenwoordigster (nl) f
• Esperanto: deputato
• Estonian: esindaja (et)
• Faroese: umboð n, varamaður m
• Finnish: edustaja (fi), sijainen (fi), varajäsen (fi)
• French: adjoint (fr) m, adjointe (fr) f, suppléant (fr) m, suppléante (fr) f
• Georgian: მოადგილე (moadgile)
• German: Stellvertreter (de) m, Stellvertreterin (de) f
• Greek: αναπληρωτής (el) m (anaplirotís), αναπληρώτρια (el) f (anaplirótria)
• Hebrew: סֶגֶן‎ (he) m (ségen), סְגָנִית‎ f
• Hindi: नायब (hi) m (nāyab), नाइब (hi) m (nāib), डिप्टी (hi) m (ḍipṭī)
• Hungarian: helyettes (hu), megbízott (hu), megbízott helyettes
• Ido: deputato (io), adyunto (io)
• Indonesian: deputi (id)
• Italian: delegato (it) m, rappresentate (it) m, vice (it) m
• Japanese: 代理 (ja) (だいり, dairi), 代理人 (ja) (だいりにん, dairinin)
• Kazakh: орынбасар (orınbasar)
• Khmer: ជំនួស (km) (cumnuəh), បាឡាត់ (km) (baalat), ភូឈួយ (km) (phuu chuəy)
• Korean: 대리인(代理人) (ko) (daeriin), 대리자(代理者) (ko) (daerija)
• Kyrgyz: орунбасар (orunbasar)
• Lao: ຜູ້ຮອງ (phū hǭng), ຜູ້ແທນ (phū thǣn)
• Latin: lēgātus (la) m
• Latvian: vietnieks m, vietniece f
• Lithuanian: pavaduotojas m, pavaduotoja f
• Macedonian: заменик m (zamenik), заменичка f (zamenička)
• Manx: fo-reiltagh m

• Maori: tēputi, kaitiriwā
• Mingrelian: ალმახვენჯი (almaxvenǯi)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: орлогч (mn) (orlogch)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nestleder (no) m

• Pashto: معاون‎ m (mo'āwén), ډپتي‎ m (ḍepṭí)
• Persian: جانشین‎ (fa) (jânešin), معاون‎ (fa) (mo'âven), نایب‎ (fa) (nâyeb)
• Polish: zastępca (pl) m, zastępczyni (pl) f
• Portuguese: representante (pt) m or f
• Romanian: delegat (ro) m, reprezentant (ro) m, deputat (ro) m
• Russian: замести́тель (ru) m (zamestítelʹ), замести́тельница (ru) f (zamestítelʹnica), представи́тель (ru) m (predstavítelʹ), представи́тельница (ru) f (predstavítelʹnica)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за̑менӣк m, за̑мјенӣк m, за̑меница f, за̑мјеница f

  Roman: zȃmenīk (sh) m, zȃmjenīk (sh) m, zȃmenica f, zȃmjenica (sh) f

• Slovak: námestník m, námestkyňa f, zástupca m, zástupkyňa f
• Slovene: namestnik m, namestnica f
• Spanish: suplente c, sustituto (es) m, delegado (es) m, representante (es) c, adjunto (es) m
• Swahili: naibu (sw)
• Swedish: biträdande (sv), vice (sv)
• Tajik: ҷонишин (tg) (jonišin), муовин (muovin), ноиб (noyib)
• Tatar: урынбасар (tt) (urınbasar)
• Thai: ผู้รักษาการแทน (pûu-rák-sǎa-gaan-tɛɛn), ตัวแทน (th) (dtuua-tɛɛn), ผู้แทน (th) (pûu-tɛɛn), ปลัด (bpà-làt)
• Turkish: muavin (tr)
• Turkmen: orunbasar
• Ukrainian: засту́пник m (zastúpnyk), засту́пниця f (zastúpnycja)
• Urdu: نائب‎ m (nā'ib), ڈپٹی‎ m (ḍipṭī)
• Uyghur: مۇئاۋىن‎ (mu'awin)
• Uzbek: muovin (uz), oʻrinbosar (uz)
• Vietnamese: phó (vi)

legislator — See also translations at legislator

• Armenian: պատգամավոր (hy) (patgamavor)
• Azerbaijani: deputat (az)
• Belarusian: дэпута́т m (deputát), дэпута́тка f (deputátka)
• Bulgarian: депута́т (bg) m (deputát), депута́тка f (deputátka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 議員 (zh), 议员 (zh) (yìyuán)

• Danish: deputeret c
• Esperanto: deputato
• Finnish: edustaja (fi)
• French: député (fr) m, députée (fr) f
• Georgian: დეპუტატი (deṗuṭaṭi)
• German: Deputierter m (strong masculine form), Deputierte m or f (feminine or weak masculine form), Abgeordneter (de) m (strong masculine form), Abgeordnete (de) m or f (feminine or weak masculine form)
• Greek: βουλευτής (el) m (vouleftís)
• Hungarian: képviselő (hu), képviselőház tagja
• Ido: deputato (io)

• Indonesian: wakil rakyat (id)
• Irish: teachta m
• Italian: deputato (it), deputata (it) f
• Japanese: 代議士 (ja) (だいぎし, daigishi)
• Kazakh: депутат (depwtat)
• Korean: 의원(議員) (ko) (uiwon)
• Kyrgyz: депутат (ky) (deputat)
• Latvian: deputāts m
• Lithuanian: deputatas (lt) m
• Ngazidja Comorian: wakala 5 or 6
• Portuguese: deputado (pt) m
• Romanian: deputat (ro) m, deputată (ro) f
• Russian: депута́т (ru) m (deputát)
• Spanish: diputado (es) m
• Turkish: milletvekili (tr), mebus (tr)
• Ukrainian: депута́т m (deputát), депута́тка f (deputátka)
• Uzbek: deputat (uz)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Norman: ^{(please verify)} député m (Jersey)

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.
• “deputy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “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.
• “deputy” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.