deploy
Americanverb (used with object)
-
deploys,
present (3rd person singular)
-
deployed,
past participle, past
-
deploying
present participle
-
Military. to spread out (troops) so as to form an extended front or line.
-
to arrange in a position of readiness, or to move strategically or appropriately.
to deploy a battery of new missiles.
verb (used without object)
-
deploys,
present (3rd person singular)
-
deployed,
past participle, past
-
deploying
present participle
-
to spread out strategically or in an extended front or line.
-
to come into a position ready for use.
The plane can't land unless the landing gear deploys.
verb
-
to adopt or cause to adopt a battle formation, esp from a narrow front formation
-
(tr) to redistribute (forces) to or within a given area
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deploysimple
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deployssimple
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have deployedperfect
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has deployedperfect
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am deployingprogressive
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are deployingprogressive
-
is deployingprogressive
-
have been deployingperfect progressive
-
has been deployingperfect progressive
Past
-
deployedsimple
-
had deployedperfect
-
was deployingprogressive
-
were deployingprogressive
-
had been deployingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deploy
First recorded in 1470–80; from French déployer, equivalent to dé- prefix with negative force + ployer “to fold”; see dis- 1, ploy
Explanation
To deploy is to move into fighting formation, the way a military commander might deploy troops in preparation for a battle. You'll almost always find the word deploy in a military context. The Latin plicāre means "fold." By adding dis- to it, to get displicāre, we get the idea of an "unfolding," or distributing. This is the basis of the word deploy, and it gives us a good mental image of the sending out, or "unfolding," of troops in a military plan. To deploy means more than just dispersing troops, however — there is usually a specific formation in mind, consistent with military strategies. And you can deploy nonmilitary assets, too, like accounting teams before an IRS audit.
Vocabulary lists containing deploy
ASVAB Word Knowledge
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A Long Way Gone
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John F. Kennedy's Address to the American People on the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"This makes it the quickest for DNB to deploy in a crisis situation," said the bank in a statement.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
Canaccord analyst George Gianarikas said the market is broadly hoping that Tesla won’t just announce a geographic expansion, but rather detail a plan to deploy more than just a handful of Cybercabs in some markets.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
Nepal has declared a disaster in 15 affected areas for three months to provide financial assistance to families of the dead, rescue and relocate the displaced and deploy the army.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
The London market is the deepest and most liquid, said Schwartz, making it easier to deploy in times of crisis.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
Though the fiercest rioting was on the West Side, General Throckmorton chose to deploy his paratroopers on the East Side, calling this decision “an operational convenience.”
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Big Ridley commands armies of extras, builds enormous sets and deploys cutting-edge visual effects to create places that no longer exist — or never did.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Every time a company trains a model, deploys an AI agent or runs inference through its cloud, Amazon makes money.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
As Lebanon's army deploys in the southern village of Zawtar al-Gharbiya, Hassan Sbeih is among those reassured by the troops and hoping the move will soon extend to areas still occupied by Israel.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
Deployment doesn’t just unleash the airbag; it also deploys the car’s supplemental restraint system, the entire airbag system.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
She leaps from her perch, deploys a tiny parachute, and executes a soft landing—straddling the thrumming ray gun as if it was a bucking bronco.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
“Even being deployed in Iraq isn’t as bad as being deployed on a ship. And we were being bombed every day.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Drones are being deployed over hard-to reach areas to scan for survivors.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
"Our soldiers are also deployed to collect bodies and prevent the spread of disease."
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
Navy officer, was surprised to hear of sea mines deployed from rocket launchers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Because the Martian atmosphere is only 1 percent as dense as the Earth’s, a very large parachute, eighteen meters in diameter, was deployed to slow the spacecraft as it entered the thin air of Mars.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
The company is expected to announce that it will begin deploying the custom robotaxi vehicles on its ride-hailing service.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
The elegantly presented “An Exquisite Eye: Introducing the Aso O. Tavitian Collection,” at the Clark, offers a preview with 150 works by artists from different countries, deploying different mediums, united by consistent excellence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
"There's always uncertainty when you are deploying something where real people, materials, and physical costs are involved," said Doppa.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
They also came after Israel bombed the disused Abu Duhur airbase in the country's northwest earlier in the week, claiming it wanted to avert Turkish troops deploying to the facility.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
“Principal Wombat is just deploying her resources like any good General would,” Alicia said.
From "Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody" by Patrick Ness
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
