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 The school faces lawsuits over decisions that day that allowed the gunman to stay in school after meeting with a counselor, the dean of students and his parents over a disturbing drawing on a math worksheet. Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press, 15 Mar. 2024 But engineering wasn’t for Mr. Millstein after all, and the assistant dean of Columbia Law School, who was teaching an undergraduate course in law for engineers, steered him toward a legal career. Sam Roberts, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2024 That policy debate and its potential implications for millions of Americans left an impression upon Pan, and the dean had seen it. Cathie Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 6 Mar. 2024 The school disbanded the program in early 2023 when the dean who created it left Virginia Tech and told the Supreme Court it would not be revived. Rachel Weiner, Washington Post, 4 Mar. 2024 Boosting low-income students, Yale says Requiring test scores doesn’t further economic inequality in the admissions process, dean of undergraduate admissions, Jeremiah Quinlan, said in a news release announcing the change. Brammhi Balarajan, CNN, 25 Feb. 2024 Echoing that sentiment is Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor and senior associate dean at Yale School of Management, who recently penned a related Fortune opinion piece. Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 16 Feb. 2024 As for magnesium’s reputation as a slayer of stress and bringer of sleep, the jury is still out, according to Steven Chen, associate dean for clinical affairs at USC’s Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Adam Markovitz, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2024 The artist-in-residence program is funded by the UCA arts fee or from Gayle Seymour, associate dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, at (501) 450-3293 or gayles@uca.edu. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, arkansasonline.com, 24 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dean.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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 28 Mar. 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

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!