dean

noun

1
a
: the head of the chapter of a collegiate or cathedral church
b
: a Roman Catholic priest who supervises one district of a diocese
2
a
: the head of a division, faculty, college, or school of a university
b
: a college or secondary school administrator in charge of counseling and disciplining students
3
dean intransitive verb
deanship noun

Examples of dean in a Sentence

She's the dean of the university's business school. the dean of liberal arts
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In 2013, she was recruited as inaugural dean of the dental school at the University of Utah. Bymeredith Wadman, science.org, 4 Nov. 2024 In January, as students and faculty continued to protest, an associate dean at the school resigned, accusing the administration of a lack of transparency on the cuts. Angelica Villa, ARTnews.com, 24 Oct. 2024 Among them was director Alexander Mackendrick, the dean of the film school at the time. Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2024 Why trustees are critical for the community college in the innovation economy While presidents, deans, workforce leaders, and faculty all have critical roles in unlocking equitable pathways to good jobs resulting from R&D investments, trustees have an especially important role to play. Shalin Jyotishi, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for dean 

Word History

Etymology

Middle English deen, from Anglo-French deen, deien, from Late Latin decanus chief of ten, from Greek dekanos, from deka ten — more at ten

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of dean was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near dean

Cite this Entry

“Dean.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dean. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

dean

noun
1
: the head of the chapter of a cathedral church
2
a
: the head of a division, faculty, college, or school of a university
b
: a college or secondary school administrator in charge of counseling or disciplining students
3
: the senior member of a group
the dean of the diplomatic corps
deanship noun

Biographical Definition

Dean

biographical name

Sir Patrick 1909–1994 British diplomat

More from Merriam-Webster on dean

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