vicegerent

[vahys-jeer-uhnt]

noun

1. an officer appointed as deputy by and to a sovereign or supreme chief.

2. a deputy in general.

adjective

1. exercising delegated powers.

2. characterized by delegation of powers.

vicegerent

/ ˌvaɪsˈdʒɛrənt /

noun

1. a person appointed to exercise all or some of the authority of another, esp the administrative powers of a ruler; deputy

2. RC Church the Pope or any other representative of God or Christ on earth, such as a bishop

adjective

1. invested with or characterized by delegated authority

Other Word Forms

• vicegerency noun
• vicegeral adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vicegerent¹

1530–40; < New Latin vicegerent- (stem of vicegerēns managing instead of ), equivalent to Latin vice ( vice ³ ) + gerent- (stem of gerēns, present participle of gerere to carry on, conduct); -ent

Word History and Origins

Origin of vicegerent¹

C16: from New Latin vicegerēns, from _vice ³ + Latin gerere to manage

Example Sentences

As the direct representatives and plenipotentiaries of the vicegerent of God the legates carried and exercised the supreme authority of the Holy See into the remotest corners of Christendom.

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The first was Thor of the Edda; the second Storjunkare, his vicegerent, the common household god; and the third Beywe, the Sun.

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His son-in-law, Defderdar, known popularly as the “Scourge of God,” was his acting vicegerent.

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Through his high-handed course, both as a leading ecclesiastical dignitary in Normandy and as earl of Kent and vicegerent in England, he gave William no small amount of trouble.

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They illustrate, as nothing else could, the growth and the development of the popular conception of the duties outside the Court that Englishmen connect to-day with the Sovereign or the Sovereign’s social and ceremonial vicegerents.

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Related Words

• pontiff