viceroy
Americannoun
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viceroys
plural
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a person appointed to rule a country or province as the deputy of the sovereign.
the viceroy of India.
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a brightly marked American butterfly, Limenitis archippus, closely mimicking the monarch butterfly in coloration.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of viceroy
1515–25; < Middle French, equivalent to vice- vice- + roy king < Latin rēgem, accusative of rēx
Explanation
A viceroy is appointed by a king to be in charge of a country or province. When a country is ruled by a monarch — a king or queen — and controls colonies or provinces, the monarch can’t govern all those remote areas personally. That's where a viceroy comes in. The king or queen appoints a representative to rule over the colony or province. This viceroy is the most powerful person in this region, kind of like a king or president. The difference is that the viceroy has to answer to the monarch, his boss back in the mother country.
Vocabulary lists containing viceroy
Mythology
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South America - Middle School
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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:
In his 2012 autobiography "An American Son," the man oft-memed as the "viceroy" of Cuba, recounts boasting to his exiled Cuban grandfather that he would one day overthrow Fidel Castro and free Cuba.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
“And the viceroy Mike Davis tells me — since it doesn’t actually say consecutive — that, I don’t know, maybe we do it again in ‘28?
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2024
However, in 1810, when peninsular judges deposed the viceroy and installed their own leader in the position, creole royalists were inspired to take full control of the government.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
“Her father had been a page to the Marquis de Fuentes, viceroy of Naples. Her mother came from a patrician family of some standing.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2022
That still left open the question of who would manage Livermore day to day, in effect as Lawrences viceroy.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
For decades, the Delhi Gymkhana Club was among the world’s most elite clubs, counting British viceroys and Indian royalty among its members.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
"Governor Generals, viceroys and people in high society would dine there," Mr Neogi explains.
From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2023
Palma is lighthearted, ironic, amusing and anticlerical by nature, and in his writing he makes fun of the sumptuous interiorities of viceroys and courtesans.
From New York Times ● Nov. 1, 2023
The kings of Assyria were considered viceroys of the gods, especially the chief deity Asshur.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
She had been born and raised in a city six hundred miles away, a gloomy city where on ghostly nights the coaches of the viceroys still rattled through the cobbled streets.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
