on behalf of - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

on behalf of

1. Speaking or acting for.
   On behalf of all those present, may I thank you for a well-executed presentation.
   • 2018 March 30, Eric Bradner, “Hillary Clinton re-emerges as GOP’s reliable boogeyman”, in CNN‎[1], archived from the original on 24 June 2019:
     Hillary Clinton hasn’t hit the campaign trail yet on behalf of Democrats running in 2018, but that isn’t stopping Republicans from using the former 2016 Democratic presidential nominee as a reliable campaign boogeyman.

Although on behalf of and in behalf of are usually used interchangeably, the former steadily replacing the latter in frequency of use, a distinction in meaning has been made by some commentators. As those commentators have it:

• to "speak on behalf of a person or entity" is to speak on someone's side or part as their explicitly or implicitly delegated representative.
  On behalf of the mayor, I declare this to be our city's fix-up and paint-up day.
• To "speak in behalf of a person or entity" is to speak in that person's interest, favor, or aid without explicit or implicit deputization, and especially if they are unable to speak for themselves.
  to plead in behalf of a cause

Historically, in was much more common (7:1) in US usage than on with behalf. Nowadays, however, it has been almost totally (30:1) replaced by on. Moreover, the remaining usage of in behalf of does not systematically follow the pattern prescribed by the commentators. Current British usage also shows on behalf of to be much more common than in behalf of. Garner's Modern American Usage (2009) suggests that interchangeability is almost completely accepted.

• (speaking or acting for): in behalf of (dated)
• for and on behalf of

speaking or acting for

• Arabic: بِاسْم (ar) (bi-sm), بِالنِّيَابَة عَن (bi-n-niyāba ʕan)
  Egyptian Arabic: بالنيابة عن (ben-nyaba ʕan)

• Assamese: -অৰ হৈ (-or hoi)

• Bulgarian: от и́мето на (ot ímeto na)

• Chinese:
  Mandarin: 替 (zh) (tì), 代表 (zh) (dàibiǎo)

• Cornish: a-barth, bar'

• Czech: jménem (cs)

• Danish: på vegne af

• Dutch: namens (nl)

• Esperanto: nome de

• Estonian: (kellegi) nimel, (kellegi) heaks

• Finnish: puolesta (fi), nimissä

• French: au nom de (fr), pour le compte de (fr)

• Galician: no nome de

• German: im Namen von (de), im Interesse von, im Auftrag von, zu Gunsten von

• Greek: εκ μέρους (el) (ek mérous)
  Ancient Greek: ὑπέρ (hupér) (+ genitive)

• Hebrew: מִטַּעַם (mitá'am), בְּשֵׁם (b'shém), לְשׁוּם (l'shúm)

• Indonesian: atas nama (id)

• Irish: as ucht (takes the genitive), ar son
  Old Irish: tar cenn

• Italian: per conto di (it), a nome di

• Japanese: ...の代わりに (ja) (...のかわりに, no kawari ni), ...を代表して (ja) (...をだいひょうして, ... o daihyō shite)

• Latin: prō (la) (+ ablative)

• Malagasy: amin'ny anaran'i

• Mari:
  Eastern Mari: верч (verč)

• Norwegian:
  Bokmål: på vegne av (no)
  Nynorsk: på vegner av

• Occitan: al nom de

• Polish: w imieniu (pl)

• Portuguese: em nome de

• Russian: от и́мени (ru) (ot ímeni), от лица́ (ru) (ot licá)

• Scottish Gaelic: às leth

• Spanish: en nombre de, de parte de, en representación de, a beneficio de, en lugar de (es)

• Swahili: kwa niaba ya

• Turkish: namı hesabına, namına

• Ukrainian: від і́мені (vid ímeni)

• Vietnamese: thay mặt cho, nhân danh (vi)

• Welsh: tros, dros, ar ran

• in behalf of

• in propria persona

• in the interest of

• on account of

• on the part of

• per procurationem

• deputy

• “behalf”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.