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:
The advocate depute added: "The accused's vehicle crashed head-on, which caused both vehicles to come to a stop."
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
The advocate depute suggested there were "significant similarities" in the testimony of each witness.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
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
Advocate depute Chris McKenna previously told the court that the 15-year-old girl had spent the evening at a friend's home before walking along Lothian Road to a bus stop.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
And that you may be satisfied no Injustice will be done to them, I do now invite you to depute three or four Indians to be present at their Trials.
From The History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada Attachments and Support Papers by Cadwallader Colden
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
In case of murder, theft, or dispute between different tribes, the aggrieved consult the Sultan, who, assembling the elders, deputes them to feel the inclinations of the "public."
From First Footsteps in East Africa by Sir Richard Francis Burton
"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
Robert Harlow was deputed by Parliament to carry out the work.
From Old Church Lore by William Andrews
Amid fresh cries of "Shame!" irate M. P.'s exacted a promise that there be no "deputing."
From Time Magazine Archive
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
Now really I do thank Madame for deputing me to wait more especially on Monsieur Manuel.
From The Romance of a Poor Young Man A Drama Adapted from the French of Octave Feuillet by Pierrepont Edwards
After the council broke up he was heard outside accosting this and that deputing chief, and speaking in a loud, gratified tone of the Rajah's property being protected in the Rajah's absence.
From Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
Sooba's wife followed closely at her heels deputing another woman to take up her duties.
From The Outcaste by F. E. Penny
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.
