depute
Americanverb (used with object)
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to appoint as one's substitute, representative, or agent.
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to assign (authority, a function, etc.) to a deputy.
verb
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to appoint as an agent, substitute, or representative
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to assign or transfer (authority, duties, etc) to a deputy; delegate
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deputesimple
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deputessimple
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have deputedperfect
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has deputedperfect
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am deputingprogressive
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are deputingprogressive
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is deputingprogressive
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have been deputingperfect progressive
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has been deputingperfect progressive
Past
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deputedsimple
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had deputedperfect
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was deputingprogressive
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were deputingprogressive
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had been deputingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of depute
1350–1400; Middle English deputen < Anglo-French, Old French deputer to assign < Late Latin dēputāre to allot, Latin: to consider, equivalent to dē- de- + putāre to think
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:
Fiscal depute David Orr said that Nicholson, from Newbie, near Annan, had been the focus of Operation Epazote, a Home Office inquiry into human trafficking at TN Trawlers.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
In 2009 she was appointed the principal advocate depute, becoming the first woman to be appointed to this post.
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
Advocate depute Lindsey Dalziel, for the Crown, had previously told the court about the "devastating" loss suffered by Taylor's family.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
The advocate depute said: "Quite sure about that?"
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
This preliminary work he is obliged to depute to subordinates.
From Boating by Woodgate, W. B.
Thirdly, those on more than £60,000 - essentially some heads and deputes - will receive a flat pay rise of £3,000.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2023
Under the terms of the latest offer, pay rises would be capped for those earning above £60,000 - principally some heads and deputes.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2022
The deputes start moving toward him and he starts walking at them again.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 23, 2022
At about 10:40 p.m., deputes in Nash County tried to pull the vehicle over, Stone said.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 12, 2022
Old Father Time deputes me here before ye, Not for to preach, but tell his simple story: The sage grave ancient cough’d, and bade me say, “You’re one year older this important day.”
From The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical by Allan Cunningham by Burns, Robert
"But media teams deputed inside Jinnah Convention Centre do not know what's happening outside."
From Barron's ● Apr. 11, 2026
"So far we have captured 10 leopards," says AK Singh, the forest official deputed of the district.
From BBC ● May 18, 2023
When he failed to do so, his cousin Amy Lowell took on the task: “I like to imagine that the task has been deputed to me in his stead.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 29, 2022
He was usually deputed to pick up the opposing playmaker and the coach Bobby Haarms described him as being "like a kamikaze pilot" as he pursued him, often deep into opposition territory.
From The Guardian ● May 22, 2013
Some were deputed to wait on the guests and strangers, while others cared the sick poor in the hospice with all charity and tenderness.
From Mellifont Abbey, Co. Louth Its Ruins and Associations, a Guide and Popular History by Anonymous
Amid fresh cries of "Shame!" irate M. P.'s exacted a promise that there be no "deputing."
From Time Magazine Archive
One-half the learned world is amused in tinkering obsolete armour, as Don Quixote did his helmet; deputing it, after a series of catastrophes, to be at last sound and invulnerable.
From The Life of Reason by Santayana, George
The army agreed to these sentiments, and, deputing two of their number to act as bearers, marched away to the sound of the muffled drums.
From The Old Stone House by Woolson, Constance Fenimore
This resulted in Dost Mahomed sending his son and heir-apparent, Sardar Ghulam Haidar Khan, to Peshawar, and deputing him to act as his Plenipotentiary in the negotiations.
From Forty-one years in India From Subaltern To Commander-In-Chief by Roberts, Frederick Sleigh
At one moment they half resolved on deputing a message to the chamber of the Prince; at another they discussed the propriety of departing in a body.
From Gerald Fitzgerald The Chevalier by Lever, Charles James
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.
