depute
Americanverb (used with object)
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deputes,
present (3rd person singular)
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deputed,
past participle, past
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deputing
present participle
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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:
Advocate depute William Frain Bell KC told the men's trial: "The tax collectors in this case were a group of individuals who never had any intention of parting with the VAT."
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
The advocate depute said: "Quite sure about that?"
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
Advocate depute Adrian Stalker said that shortly before the struggle, Smith was seen in the spirits aisle at the supermarket and a staff member became suspicious that she might be shoplifting.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2026
Advocate depute Scott McKenzie told the court that Colville, an early years assistant, had no previous convictions.
From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2025
On his return he was appointed advocate depute, which post he held till 1830.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 1 A to Amide by Various
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
"He deputes me to show you what we have."
From Lady Connie by Mrs. Humphry Ward
"But media teams deputed inside Jinnah Convention Centre do not know what's happening outside."
From Barron's ● Apr. 11, 2026
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
The day after his death, she was deputed to deliver an emotional speech to the world's press, who had gathered at the quayside.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2021
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
You know it and so do I: "Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, Become them with one-half so good a grace as mercy does."
From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 10 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Legal by Robert Green Ingersoll
Amid fresh cries of "Shame!" irate M. P.'s exacted a promise that there be no "deputing."
From Time Magazine Archive
John Massingbird possessed a ready hand at packing and arranging; and therefore he preferred doing it himself to deputing it to others.
From Verner's Pride by Mrs. Henry Wood
It now occurred to his unprincipled mind, that he might deprive his rival even of the warning which his open approach would give, by deputing a flag of truce to solicit a parley.
From The Truce of God A Tale of the Eleventh Century by George Henry Miles
Soon the great staircase was so crowded that many who were still below made no effort to ascend, deputing the bringing of their wraps to friends who had forced an upward passage.
From The Genius by Margaret Horton Potter
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 George Santayana
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.
