different between headmaster vs deputy

English

Etymology

head +? master.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h?d?mæst?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h?d?m??st?/
• Rhymes: -æst?(?), -??st?(?)
• Hyphenation: head?mas?ter

Noun

headmaster (plural headmasters, feminine headmistress)

1. (chiefly Britain) A male school principal.

Usage notes

The term is gender-specific, and refers to a male in the position. A female in the same role would be called a headmistress. In the United States, the shortened version of 'master' was used in some universities to refer to the faculty leader of a residential space regardless of gender.

Synonyms

• headteacher (UK, gender-neutral)
• principal (US, gender-neutral)

Translations

Anagrams

• headstream

English

Alternative forms

• deputee (archaic)

Etymology

From French député, from Late Latin deputatus (“appointed”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?pj?ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?d?pj?ti/, /?d?p?ti/

Noun

deputy (plural deputies)

1. One appointed as the substitute of another, and empowered to act for them, in their name or their behalf; a substitute in office

   Synonyms: lieutenant, representative, delegate, vice, vicegerent

2. (mining, historical) A person employed to install and remove props, brattices, etc. and to clear gas, for the safety of the miners.
3. (France): A member of the Chamber of Deputies, formerly called Corps Législatif
4. (Ireland): a member of Dáil Éireann, or the title of a member of Dáil Éireann. (Normally capitalised in both cases)

   Eamon Ryan is a deputy in the Dáil.

   At today's meeting, Deputy Ryan will speak on local issues.

5. (United States): a law enforcement officer who works for the county sheriff's office; a deputy sheriff or sheriff's deputy; the entry level rank in such an agency

   The sheriff's deputies took the suspect into custody.

   Deputy Jones was promoted to corporal today.

Usage notes

Deputy is used in combination with the names of various executive officers, to denote an assistant empowered to act in their name; as, deputy collector, deputy marshal, deputy sheriff. In the British coal mining industry, the word referred to as a deputy overman, which was roughly akin to a foreman in other industries.

Synonyms

• substitute
• representative
• legate
• delegate
• envoy
• agent
• See also Thesaurus:deputy

Hyponyms

• vice admiral
• vice director
• vicegerent
• vice president

Derived terms

• deputy first minister
• deputy prime minister

Translations

See also

• vice-

Verb

deputy (third-person singular simple present deputies, present participle deputying, simple past and past participle deputied)

1. (informal, nonstandard) to deputise

Further reading

• deputy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• deputy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “deputy” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.