surrogate

[sur-uh-geyt, -git, suhr-, sur-uh-geyt, suhr-]

noun

1. a person appointed to act for another; deputy.

2. (in some states) a judicial officer having jurisdiction over the probate of wills, the administration of estates, etc.

3. the deputy of an ecclesiastical judge, especially of a bishop or a bishop's chancellor.

4. a substitute.

5. a surrogate mother.

6. Politics.,  someone who acts on behalf of a politician or political candidate by making public appearances, issuing statements, etc., when that person is engaged elsewhere or when that person’s image would be bolstered by certain affiliations.

   His camp won the “prestige of science” battle by signing on high-profile physicists, chemists, and biologists as campaign surrogates.

adjective

1. regarded or acting as a surrogate.

   a surrogate father.

2. involving or indicating the use of a surrogate mother to conceive or carry an embryo.

   surrogate parenting.

verb (used with object)

surrogated, surrogating 

1. to put into the place of another as a successor, substitute, or deputy; substitute for another.

2. to subrogate.

surrogate

noun

1. a person or thing acting as a substitute

2. a deputy, such as a clergyman appointed to deputize for a bishop in granting marriage licences

3. psychiatry a person who is a substitute for someone else, esp in childhood when different persons, such as a brother or teacher, can act as substitutes for the parents

4. (in some US states) a judge with jurisdiction over the probate of wills, etc

5. (modifier) of, relating to, or acting as a surrogate

   a surrogate pleasure

verb

1. to put in another's position as a deputy, substitute, etc

2. to appoint as a successor to oneself

Other Word Forms

• surrogateship noun
• surrogation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of surrogate¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin surrogātus, variant of subrogātus “nominated as a substitiute”; subrogate

Word History and Origins

Origin of surrogate¹

C17: from Latin surrogāre to substitute; see _subrogate

Example Sentences

Mr. Eyman draws a picture of “an increasingly resentful child . . . dragged through a succession of cow towns and surrogate fathers.”

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Owner Margarita Xatruch not only cooks for her customers, but also acts as a surrogate mother of sorts.

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To overcome these barriers, Hirashima and his team designed a method that blends a deep learning surrogate model with standard physical simulations.

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Enlisting Esther as a surrogate, who in turn finds a partner in Mandatory Palestine, Honor becomes the adoptive mother of James Winslow, a “Two-Moms Idea.”

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One baby ransacked her belongings, another clung to her for months as a surrogate mother.

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Related Words

• proxy 
• stand-in