deputy

1. 1.

   someone authorized to exercise the powers of sheriff in emergencies

   Synonymsdeputy sheriff

   Broaderlawman
2. 2.

   an assistant with power to act when his superior is absent

   Synonymslieutenant

   Broaderassistant

   Narrowersecond-in-commandvicar-generalvice-regent
3. 3.

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

   Broaderlegislator

   France

4. 4.

   a person appointed to represent or act on behalf of others

   Synonymssurrogate

   Broaderagent

   Narrowervicegerent

Other forms of deputy

plural

deputies·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about deputy

What does deputy mean?

deputy means "someone authorized to exercise the powers of sheriff in emergencies". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in deputy?

deputy has 3 syllables: dep-u-ty. The stress falls on "dep". In IPA it is /ˈdɛpjəti/.

What is another word for deputy?

Close synonyms include deputy sheriff, lieutenant, surrogate. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is deputy a common word?

deputy is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.