lieutenant governor

noun

: a deputy or subordinate governor: such as

a

: an elected official serving as deputy to the governor of an American state

b

: the formal head of the government of a Canadian province appointed by the federal government as the representative of the crown

lieutenant governorship noun

Examples of lieutenant governor in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

DeWine announced his lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, as the replacement to fill Vice President-elect JD Vance's U.S. Senate seat, opening up the contest to other candidates. —David Faris, Newsweek, 18 Jan. 2025

He was reelected in 2014 and initially sought the governorship in 2018 but dropped his bid to run for lieutenant governor as the running mate for DeWine. —Jared Gans, The Hill, 17 Jan. 2025

But the powerful, arch-conservative lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, has vowed to pass a new bill that would ban outright all forms of tetrahydrocannabinol. —John Burnett, NPR, 13 Jan. 2025

When New York declared independence from England and created its own Constitution in 1777, there was a governor and lieutenant governor, separately and independently elected. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 6 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1595, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

lieutenant governor

noun

1

: an elected official serving as deputy to the governor of an American state

2

: the formal head of the government of a Canadian province appointed to represent the crown