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.
Allegation #3: Former Penn admissions dean airs frustrations Monday’s court filing also says the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school in Philadelphia, gave the children of donors preferential treatment. Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, 18 Dec. 2024 Instead, CEOs and deans are letting right-wing activists bully them into junking the whole project. The Week Uk, theweek, 15 Dec. 2024 Mark Gladwin, the dean of the School of Medicine and who was not an author of the study, emphasized a need to leverage his institution’s capability to provide at-risk patients with anticipatory care. Sharon Udasin, The Hill, 13 Dec. 2024 On the Facebook page for Pittsfield High School, a post from April 2021 welcomed Mr. Wiggins as the new dean of students. Jenna Russell, New York Times, 12 Dec. 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 Dec. 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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