proxy

American  

[prok-see] / ˈprɒk si /

noun

• proxies
  plural

1. the agency, function, or power of a person authorized to act as the deputy or substitute for another.

2. a person authorized to act as a deputy or substitute for another; agent.

3. a written authorization empowering another person to vote or act for the signer, such as at a meeting of stockholders.

4. an ally or confederate who can be relied upon to speak or act in one's behalf.

5. Computer.

   1. a server or program that receives requests, filters them, and forwards them to a network on behalf of another computer or network which it represents under a surrogate IP address: used to provide anonymity or increased security or to carry out intermediate processing.

   2. a placeholder programming object whose function is to delegate the execution of an action to one or more other objects it controls access to, allowing the placeholder to carry out other processing before and after that action.

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adjective

1. relating to or having the agency, function, or power of a person authorized to act as the deputy or substitute for another.

   If you are unable to reach the polls, you can choose a proxy voter to cast your ballot for you.

   Because of the distance to be traveled, a proxy groom stood in for the queen's future husband.

2. (especially of a conflict) occurring between states, people, etc., who are directed, influenced, or funded by other states, people, etc..

   Proxy wars were a major feature of the Cold War.

   The new CEO won control of the company after a proxy battle.

proxy British  

/ ˈprɒksɪ /

noun

1. a person authorized to act on behalf of someone else; agent

   to vote by proxy

2. the authority, esp in the form of a document, given to a person to act on behalf of someone else

3. computing short for proxy server

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proxy Cultural  

1. A person authorized to act for another, or the written authorization to act for another.

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Discover More

Shareholders in corporations may designate proxies to represent them at stockholders' meetings and vote their shares.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• proxies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of proxy

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English prokesye, procusie, contraction of procuracy “procuration”; see procure, -acy

Explanation

Don't feel like going to the grocery store today? See if you can send your brother as a proxy, meaning he's a substitute authorized to act for you. Now, don't get crazy about getting your brother to do everything for you. Running your errands is one thing, but if you're a historian and your brother is an accountant, he is not a good proxy for you when you don't feel like researching your book about Napoleon. And you wouldn't be a good proxy for him in his work. A proxy must be well-chosen to truly act on another person's behalf.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

proxy proxies

“The question is ultimately about familiarity, affinity, and allyship—not as symbolic gestures, but as evidence accumulated over years of shared political struggle. It is a proxy for trust,” he wrote.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026

His takeaway is nuanced, and he cautioned that investors shouldn’t use conference-call mentions “ as a proxy for either the technology’s adoption or near-term utility.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026

The Hugging Face hack instead points to switched-off safeguards, tasks assigned without a valid exit, rewards for persistence, and an internet-accessible proxy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Should Jana decide to run a proxy fight at Cooper, the window to nominate directors closes in early January, according to FactSet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

When Dad couldn’t act as chaperone himself, he sent Frank or Bill along as his proxy.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Iran has a record of using criminal proxies to undertake covert operations on European soil, usually targeting Jewish sites or dissidents of the regime.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

He insisted his officers were keeping an "open mind" and considering "every possible angle" in the security scare, including the possible role of "proxies" working knowingly or unknowingly for a foreign state.

From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026

So we reach for proxies: hours of sleep, number of words said, percentile growth chart.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

Regional countries have also asked the mediators that any agreement should include guarantees that neither Iran nor its proxies will pose threats to their territories, according to senior Arab officials familiar with the matter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Lawyers for each side met with inspectors of elections, whose job it was to approve or eliminate questionable proxies.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

Related Words

• intermediary
• stand-in
• surrogate