Deputize

//ˈdɛpjutaɪz// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To officially empower, authorize, pronounce, and establish (someone) to be a deputy. transitive
  2. 2
    appoint as a substitute wordnet
  3. 3
    to officially empower and authorize (someone) to act as a substitute in one's role or office transitive

    "I deputize you to act for me while I'm away."

  4. 4
    act as a substitute wordnet
  5. 5
    To act as a substitute for a person in their role or office intransitive

    "Gringoire, on the other hand, stuck with equal firmness to the fact that he was deputizing for a brother officer who was sick — so sick that he had mislaid his orders."

Synonyms

All synonyms
deputeaccreditact foranswer forappear forappoint

Example

More examples

"The sheriff decided to deputize some civilians."

Etymology

From deputy + -ize.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.