DEPUTY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does deputy mean? 

• DEPUTY (noun)
  The noun DEPUTY has 4 senses:

1. someone authorized to exercise the powers of sheriff in emergencies

2. an assistant with power to act when his superior is absent

3. a member of the lower chamber of a legislative assembly (such as in France)

4. a person appointed to represent or act on behalf of others

  Familiarity information: DEPUTY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEPUTY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone authorized to exercise the powers of sheriff in emergencies

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

deputy; deputy sheriff

Hypernyms ("deputy" is a kind of...):

law officer; lawman; peace officer (an officer of the law)

Derivation:

deputise (appoint as a substitute)

deputise (act as a substitute)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An assistant with power to act when his superior is absent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

deputy; lieutenant

Hypernyms ("deputy" is a kind of...):

assistant; help; helper; supporter (a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "deputy"):

second-in-command (someone who relieves a commander)

vicar-general ((Roman Catholic Church) an administrative deputy who assists a bishop)

vice-regent (a regent's deputy)

Derivation:

deputise (appoint as a substitute)

deputise (act as a substitute)

deputize (appoint as a substitute)

deputize (act as a substitute)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A member of the lower chamber of a legislative assembly (such as in France)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("deputy" is a kind of...):

legislator (someone who makes or enacts laws)

Domain region:

France; French Republic (a republic in western Europe; the largest country wholly in Europe)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A person appointed to represent or act on behalf of others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

deputy; surrogate

Hypernyms ("deputy" is a kind of...):

agent (a representative who acts on behalf of other persons or organizations)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "deputy"):

vicegerent (someone appointed by a ruler as an administrative deputy)

Derivation:

deputise (appoint as a substitute)

deputise (act as a substitute)

deputize (appoint as a substitute)

deputize (act as a substitute)

 Context examples 

“I was born in Posilippo, near Naples,” said she, “and was the daughter of Augusto Barelli, who was the chief lawyer and once the deputy of that part.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dr. Zajicek was at NICHD when the analysis was conducted and is now deputy director of the NIH Office of Clinical Research.

(Diuretic therapy for extremely preterm infants does not alleviate respiratory problems, National Institutes of Health)

The nurseries for males of noble or eminent birth, are provided with grave and learned professors, and their several deputies.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

This research probes how elements of reproductive conflict can evolve into permanent reproductive cooperation in spite of their costs, said George Gilchrist, acting deputy director of the NSF Division of Environmental Biology.

(For species that mate for life, bonding behaviors provide advantages, National Science Foundation)

Researchers were expecting to find the beginning signs of possible atypical brain development, said James A. Griffin, Ph.D., deputy chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which supported the research.

(Atypical brain development observed in preschoolers with ADHD symptoms, National Institutes of Health)

Although the findings suggest that high calcium intake may be protective, the jury is still out on whether people should alter their calcium intake to prevent the onset or progression of AMD, said the study’s lead investigator, Emily Chew, M.D., director of the Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications and the deputy clinical director at National Eye Institute (NEI).

(No evidence that calcium increases risk of age-related macular degeneration, National Institutes of Health)

Geological processes created these bright areas and may still be changing the face of Ceres today, said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator of the Dawn mission, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

(Bright Areas on Ceres Suggest Geologic Activity, NASA)

I’ve been telling people to go out at night on either Sunday or Monday night to see the supermoon, said Noah Petro, deputy project scientist for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission.

(November Supermoon a Spectacular Sight, NASA)

That, perhaps, it was a little unreasonable that these registrars in the receipt of profits amounting to eight or nine thousand pounds a year (to say nothing of the profits of the deputy registrars, and clerks of seats), should not be obliged to spend a little of that money, in finding a reasonably safe place for the important documents which all classes of people were compelled to hand over to them, whether they would or no.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A half-crown tip put the deputy's knowledge at my disposal, and I learned that Mr. Bloxam, who had slept off the remains of his beer on the previous night at Corcoran's, had left for his work at Poplar at five o'clock that morning.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)