dean

noun

ˈdēn 

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

: doyen sense 1

dean intransitive verb

deanship

ˈdēn-ˌship 

noun

Synonyms

• doyen
• elder
• elder statesman
• éminence grise
• nestor
• senior

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

That would certainly work for the ambitious Verlander, the dean of the trio at 19 big-league seasons. —Dan Schlossberg, Forbes, 4 Jan. 2025

Law school in Houston After applying to Texas Southern University in Houston, the school dean called him and told him frankly that the school needed to recruit more Latino people to justify its existence with a diverse student body to the state legislature. —Richard J. Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 Jan. 2025

What People Are Saying In remarks made to CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on Friday, Enrico Letta, former prime minister of Italy and dean of the IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs, called for the European Union to retaliate to Trump's tariffs threat. —Benedict Cosgrove, Newsweek, 20 Dec. 2024

Alan Morrison, an associate dean at George Washington University Law School, expects the Supreme Court to take up the case, but said TikTok is likely to face similar skepticism over its claims that the law violates the First Amendment. —Caitlin Yilek, CBS News, 17 Dec. 2024

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

Phrases Containing dean

• dean's list
• rural dean
• sub-dean

Kids Definition

dean

noun

ˈdēn 

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

-ˌship 

noun

Biographical Definition

Dean

biographical name

ˈdēn 

Sir Patrick 1909–1994 British diplomat