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

Seidel and the university’s board of trustees, which met just before Wright was terminated as dean, have denied that his demotion was in retaliation for his refusing to transfer the funds. —Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025

But it was trashed by H. L. Mencken, editor of the Baltimore Sun and dean of America‘s literary critics. —Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 6 Apr. 2025

Peter and Paul… and also served as dean of the Nemaha-Marshall deanery. —Greg Norman, FOXNews.com, 5 Apr. 2025

His mother was dean of admissions at the University of Maryland School of Nursing; his father was chief of social work at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington. —Alec MacGillis, ProPublica, 3 Apr. 2025

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

Rhymes for dean

• bean
• bein
• bien
• bouin
• chine
• clean
• deen
• diene
• gene
• glean
• jean
• keen

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