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
-
have deployedperfect
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has deployedperfect
-
am deployingprogressive
-
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
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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:
Britain and France are to lead a military exercise to test a multinational force's ability to deploy to Ukraine, if there is a peace deal.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Don Haider-Markel, a political science professor at the University of Kansas, said it is still surprising to see the party deploy the president in Republican strongholds so close to the election.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
“We’re seeing enterprises really deploy governed AI at scale, and our Q3 results show that ServiceNow is becoming even more strategic to that work,” Mastantuono told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
These mechanisms are used, among other things, to deploy wing flaps during the plane's landing approach, helping to slow the aircraft.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
New skills to deploy on my parents in our next face-to-face confrontation.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
Uribe walks the first two batters, and Roberts deploys his primary left-handed bench threat, Max Muncy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
“Because management deploys capital into both public equities and owning entire businesses, analyst earnings estimates understate how cheap the company is.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
A ballistic missile offers Ukraine a munition with a bigger punch than the long-range drones it mainly deploys against Russia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
His aides provide him with live intelligence about Russian attacks and he deploys his teams, balancing their potential operational success against risk to life or limb.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 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
However, Western officials could not comment on the final make-up and shape of the force that could be deployed to Ukraine if the fighting stops.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Singer and Jonathan Pollock, the firm’s two chief executives and chief investment officers, run one of the hedge-fund industry’s largest pools of capital, deployed across strategies spanning activist campaigns, buyouts, distressed-debt investing and commodities trading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Around 70,000 security personnel will be deployed on Saturday, matching the number mobilised a week ago, as authorities seek to avert a repeat of the October 17 unrest.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
The central bank’s analysis indicated Canadian ports can’t accommodate some of the latest ultra-large container ships being deployed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
It deployed smoke inspectors to enforce a new antismoke ordinance.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
But it’s worth noting that a lot of ongoing policy conversations actually could have broad reaching impacts into how CIOs are building and deploying their AI solutions—whether those impacts are intended by regulators or not.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
This year, they ramped up their home display, deploying a grim reaper, a zombie, animal skeletons and Oogie Boogie from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Fifty-one airlines are currently deploying Starlink on their planes, according to an online tracker.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
US tech tycoon Elon Musk is "truly a genius" for deploying thousands of satellites into orbit, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday, as Moscow seeks to develop its own satellite internet network.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
He would come at it with a bang, deploying his deep understanding of chemistry, mathematics, and crystallography—but more important, his instinctual grasp of model building.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
