viceroy

American  

[vahys-roi] / ˈvaɪs rɔɪ /

noun

1. a person appointed to rule a country or province as the deputy of the sovereign.

   the viceroy of India.

2. a brightly marked American butterfly, Limenitis archippus, closely mimicking the monarch butterfly in coloration.

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viceroy British  

/ ˈvaɪsrɔɪ /

noun

1. a governor of a colony, country, or province who acts for and rules in the name of his sovereign or government

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Other Word Forms

• viceroyship noun

Etymology

Origin of viceroy

1515–25; < Middle French, equivalent to vice- vice- + roy king < Latin rēgem, accusative of rēx

Example Sentences

“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

Relief efforts started to be put into place by the end of 1943 with the arrival of a new viceroy, Field Marshall Lord Wavell.

From BBC • Feb. 23, 2024

Gandhi meeting with Lord Mountbatten, the new viceroy of India, and his wife, Lady Edwina Mountbatten, in 1947.

From New York Times • Jan. 30, 2023

The viceroy initially offered two obelisks from Alexandria, the so-called Cleopatra’s needles, but Champollion suggested the Luxor Obelisks as a substitute, because of the exquisite quality of their hieroglyphics.

From Washington Post • Jul. 1, 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