''depose'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260727004347-00-⌔

depose - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Verb

depose (third-person singular simple present deposes, present participle deposing, simple past and past participle deposed)

• (literally, transitive) To put down; to lay down; to deposit; to lay aside; to put away.
  • ✤ additional mud deposed upon it¹
• (transitive) To remove (a leader) from (high) office without killing (them).
  • ✤ A deposed monarch may go into exile as pretender to the lost throne, hoping to be restored in a subsequent revolution.
  • ✤ *a tyrant over his subjects, and therefore worthy to be deposed *²
  • ✤ The 1840s saw a further escalation, with new laws treating most slave ships captured as pirates, and a number of military expeditions being mounted to destroy slaving centres on the African coast and depose, or even kill, remaining local kings and chiefs who had refused to end slavery in their territory.³
• (law, intransitive) To give evidence or testimony, especially in response to interrogation during a deposition.
• (law, transitive) To interrogate and elicit testimony from during a deposition, typically by a lawyer.
  • ✤ After we deposed the claimant we had enough evidence to avoid a trial.
  • ✤ * Depose him in the justice of his cause.*⁴
  • ✤ Did he really take Beatrice out for pizza on March 10, 2001, as he claimed? If we deposed the princesses, his family members could potentially poke holes in his alibi.⁵
• (intransitive) To take or swear an oath.
• To testify; to bear witness; to claim; to assert; to affirm.
  • ✤ to depose the yearly rent or valuation of lands⁶

Etymology

Recorded since c.1300, from Middle English, from Old French deposer, from de- (“down”) + poser (“to put, place”). Deposition (1494 in the legal sense) belongs to deposit, but that related word and depose became thoroughly confused.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /dɪˈpəʊz/
• (US) IPA: /diˈpoʊz/, /dəˈpoʊz/
• Audio (US): 🔊
• Rhymes: -əʊz

Printed 2026-07-27.

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Footnotes

1. 1695, John Woodward, “”, in An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth: And Terrestrial Bodies, Especially Minerals: […], London: […] Ric[hard] Wilkin […], →OCLC: ↩

2. 1643, William Prynne, “”, in The Soveraigne Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes: […], London: […] Michael Sparke Senior, →OCLC: ↩

3. 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 8:35 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron ‎${}^{[1]}$, archived from the original on 29 November 2024: ↩

4. 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]: ↩

5. 2025 October 20, Caroline Davies, quoting Virginia Giuffre, “Prince Andrew tried to hire ‘internet trolls’ to hassle Virginia Giuffre, book claims”, in The Guardian ‎${}^{[2]}$, →ISSN: ↩

6. c. 1598, Francis Bacon, The Office of Compositions for Alienations: ↩