surrogate

[ noun adjective sur-uh-geyt, -git, suhr-; verb sur-uh-geyt, suhr- ]

noun

1. a person appointed to act for another; deputy.
2. (in some states) a judicial officer having jurisdiction over the probate of wills, the administration of estates, etc.
3. the deputy of an ecclesiastical judge, especially of a bishop or a bishop's chancellor.
4. a substitute.
5. a surrogate mother.
6. Politics. someone who acts on behalf of a politician or political candidate by making public appearances, issuing statements, etc., when that person is engaged elsewhere or when that person’s image would be bolstered by certain affiliations:

   His camp won the “prestige of science” battle by signing on high-profile physicists, chemists, and biologists as campaign surrogates.

adjective

1. regarded or acting as a surrogate:

   a surrogate father.

2. involving or indicating the use of a surrogate mother to conceive or carry an embryo:

   surrogate parenting.

verb (used with object)

, sur·ro·gat·ed, sur·ro·gat·ing.

1. to put into the place of another as a successor, substitute, or deputy; substitute for another.
2. to subrogate.

surrogate

noun

1. a person or thing acting as a substitute
2. a deputy, such as a clergyman appointed to deputize for a bishop in granting marriage licences
3. psychiatry a person who is a substitute for someone else, esp in childhood when different persons, such as a brother or teacher, can act as substitutes for the parents
4. (in some US states) a judge with jurisdiction over the probate of wills, etc
5. modifier of, relating to, or acting as a surrogate

   a surrogate pleasure

verb

1. to put in another's position as a deputy, substitute, etc
2. to appoint as a successor to oneself

Derived Forms

• ˈsurrogateship, noun
• ˌsurroˈgation, noun

Other Words From

• surro·gate·ship noun
• surro·gation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of surrogate¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin surrogātus, variant of subrogātus “nominated as a substitiute”; subrogate

Word History and Origins

Origin of surrogate¹

C17: from Latin surrogāre to substitute; see subrogate

Example Sentences

Cooper, 53, host of CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” named the baby, born via a surrogate, after his father, Wyatt, who died when Cooper was 10 days old.

From Washington Blade

She was a popular surrogate for the senator that year, went on to lead his political organization Our Revolution and co-chaired his 2020 presidential campaign.

From Washington Post

More likely is an infiltration of Belarusian institutions by his security services or their surrogates in an effort to exert indirect control and ensure that Minsk policies and pronouncements channel through the Kremlin.

From Ozy

Yet few of us get to feel that presence, that sense of otherworldly connection to a robot that is in all ways a surrogate for having our own feet on the Martian regolith.

From Nautilus

Furthermore, surrogate sires would enable ranchers to introduce desired traits without having to wrangle their herd into one place for artificial insemination, says Oatley.

From Singularity Hub 

The political trip to the state will be his sixth this cycle, an unusual pace for any surrogate in a single state.

From The Daily Beast

They were like surrogate parents and a huge influence on my life and my work.

From The Daily Beast

Mad Men is very big on surrogate parents on the show, and Roger always viewed Bert as a surrogate father figure.

From The Daily Beast

Data eclipsed God in 1973, and its continuing ascendance suggests a culture that treats it as a surrogate divinity.

From The Daily Beast

George Lucas welcomes a daughter with wife Mellody Hobson via surrogate.

From The Daily Beast

He needs her to witness for his clients, and Momsy says the hearing before the Surrogate cannot be postponed again.

From Project Gutenberg

Some of the heirs and next of kin appealed to the Circuit Judge, who confirmed the decree of the Surrogate.

From Project Gutenberg

The Surrogate, when the case came before him, decided to admit the will to probate, and made a decree accordingly.

From Project Gutenberg

Van Buren became surrogate of Columbia county on February 20, 1808.

From Project Gutenberg

He as appointed by Pauline Quenu's family council to be her "surrogate guardian."

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• proxy
• stand-in