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Proxies and Proxy Servers
Proxy comes from a contracted form of the Middle English word procuracie (meaning “procuration”). A proxy may refer to a person who is authorized to act for another or it may designate the function or authority of serving in another’s stead. In the latter sense, it generally is preceded by the word by (“vote by proxy”).
Proxy has recently taken on meanings in computing, where it is found in such phrases as proxy server, a computer system that facilitates the exchange of data between users on a network.
Examples of proxy in a Sentence
Pegah Banihashemi, Chicago Tribune, 15 Feb. 2026
For better or worse, Dawson served as an emotional, often cautionary, proxy for millennials’ own coming-of-age messiness.
—Los Angeles Times, 12 Feb. 2026
The lie has become a proxy for distrust of Democratic leaders on issues across the board.
—Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic, 11 Feb. 2026
Paramount has also promised a proxy fight.
—Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Fortune, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for proxy
Cite this Entry
“Proxy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proxy. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
proxy
nounLegal Definition
proxy
nounMiddle English procucie, contraction of procuracie, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin procuratia, alteration of Latin procuratio appointment of another as one's agent
