surrogate

[sur-uh-geyt, -git, suhr-, sur-uh-geyt, suhr-]

noun

1. a person appointed to act for another; deputy.

2. (in some states) a judicial officer having jurisdiction over the probate of wills, the administration of estates, etc.

3. the deputy of an ecclesiastical judge, especially of a bishop or a bishop's chancellor.

4. a substitute.

5. a surrogate mother.

6. Politics.,  someone who acts on behalf of a politician or political candidate by making public appearances, issuing statements, etc., when that person is engaged elsewhere or when that person’s image would be bolstered by certain affiliations.

   His camp won the “prestige of science” battle by signing on high-profile physicists, chemists, and biologists as campaign surrogates.

adjective

1. regarded or acting as a surrogate.

   a surrogate father.

2. involving or indicating the use of a surrogate mother to conceive or carry an embryo.

   surrogate parenting.

verb (used with object)

surrogated, surrogating 

1. to put into the place of another as a successor, substitute, or deputy; substitute for another.

2. to subrogate.

surrogate

noun

1. a person or thing acting as a substitute

2. a deputy, such as a clergyman appointed to deputize for a bishop in granting marriage licences

3. psychiatry a person who is a substitute for someone else, esp in childhood when different persons, such as a brother or teacher, can act as substitutes for the parents

4. (in some US states) a judge with jurisdiction over the probate of wills, etc

5. (modifier) of, relating to, or acting as a surrogate

   a surrogate pleasure

verb

1. to put in another's position as a deputy, substitute, etc

2. to appoint as a successor to oneself

Other Word Forms

• surrogateship noun
• surrogation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of surrogate¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin surrogātus, variant of subrogātus “nominated as a substitiute”; subrogate

Word History and Origins

Origin of surrogate¹

C17: from Latin surrogāre to substitute; see _subrogate

Example Sentences

Fearing consequences, some officers have taken to posting about misconduct anonymously on social media or recruiting surrogates to call in to Police Commission hearings to raise allegations of wrongdoing on their behalf.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

At the request of Nixon aide John Ehrlichman, Gray told field offices to help Nixon campaign surrogates by providing local crime information.

Read more on Salon

The corpses proved to be insufficient surrogates for Gein, who later devolved into murdering middle-aged women who reminded him of his mother.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The legal change, which passed in a knife-edge vote in parliament, also restricts adoption to married heterosexual couples and prohibits surrogate pregnancies.

Read more on BBC

He found a surrogate father in Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown, and became an architect of the famous Motown sound.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• proxy 
• stand-in