vice president

American

[vahys prez-i-duhnt] / ˈvaɪs ˈprɛz ɪ dənt /

Or vice-president

noun

an officer next in rank to a president who serves as president in the president's absence.
an officer next in rank to a president who serves as a deputy to the president or oversees a special division or function.
U.S. Government. the officer of this rank who is elected at the same time as the president and who succeeds to the presidency upon the resignation, removal, death, or disability of the president.

Lincoln's first vice president was Hannibal Hamlin.

vice president British

noun

Abbreviation: VP, V. Pres. an officer ranking immediately below a president and serving as his deputy. A vice president takes the president's place during his absence or incapacity, after his death, and in certain other circumstances

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

Why is the term vice president in the news? On August 11, 2020, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden announced he selected California Senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate for the 2020 presidential election.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

vice presidents

plural

Etymology

Origin of vice president

First recorded in 1565–75

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:

vice president

He is vice president of science and technology at California Cultured, a competitor to Celleste that is also working with cocoa-bean cells.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

The former lieutenant governor of Ohio was appointed to be the state’s junior U.S. senator in 2025, after JD Vance became vice president.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026

But the negative impact “came a little sooner and deeper than we thought,” John Pitzer, Intel’s corporate vice president of investor relations, told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

Last year, Caltech retitled its chief diversity officer as an associate vice president for “campus climate, engagement and success.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

Garfield and his allies didn't trust Arthur, and the vice president knew it.

From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023