proctor

American  

[prok-ter] / ˈprɒk tər /

noun

• proctors
  plural

1. a person appointed to keep watch over students at examinations.

2. an official charged with various duties, especially with the maintenance of good order.

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verb (used with or without object)

• proctors,
  present (3rd person singular)
• proctored,
  past participle,  past
• proctoring
  present participle

1. to supervise or monitor.

proctor British  

/ ˈprɒktə /

noun

1. a member of the teaching staff of any of certain universities having the duties of enforcing discipline

2. (in a college or university) a supervisor or monitor who invigilates examinations, enforces discipline, etc

3. (formerly) an agent, esp one engaged to conduct another's case in a court

4. (formerly) an agent employed to collect tithes

5. Church of England one of the elected representatives of the clergy in Convocation and the General Synod

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verb

1. (tr) to invigilate (an examination)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• proctorship
  noun
• subproctor
  noun
• subproctorship
  noun
• proctorial
  adjective
• subproctorial
  adjective
• proctorially
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• proctors
  plural

Participles

• proctoring
  present
• proctored
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• proctor
  simple
• proctors
  simple
• have proctored
  perfect
• has proctored
  perfect
• am proctoring
  progressive
• are proctoring
  progressive
• is proctoring
  progressive
• have been proctoring
  perfect progressive
• has been proctoring
  perfect progressive

Past

• proctored
  simple
• had proctored
  perfect
• was proctoring
  progressive
• were proctoring
  progressive
• had been proctoring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will proctor
  simple
• will have proctored
  perfect
• will be proctoring
  progressive
• will have been proctoring
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of proctor

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; contracted variant of procurator

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Explanation

A proctor keeps an eye on students who are taking a test to make sure they don't cheat. The invention of the cell phone has certainly made proctors' lives tougher. For college entrance exams, students are often supervised by a professional proctor, while in less official situations, like a pop quiz, the proctor is usually the teacher herself. Proctor is both a noun and a verb, so you might say that a proctor's job is to proctor, or make sure no test-takers' eyes are straying. The Latin root word is procuratorem, which means "manager."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

proctor proctors proctored proctoring

She applied and soon landed an interview, conducted by an unseen AI proctor with a male-sounding voice.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026

An heir to the Hot Pockets fortune also admitted to paying Singer $100,000 to have a proctor correct her two daughters’ ACT exam answers.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 4, 2023

The proctor administering an exam in his pre-calc class this spring leaned in and whispered, “What are you doing here?” as Beyer handed in his test.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 28, 2022

These are the workers who conduct study sessions, offer crunch-time tutoring, read term papers, and proctor and grade exams.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2022

Then he told me how she had gone to the proctor to have him moved out and how the proctor had revealed enough low stubbornness to insist on consulting Shreve first.

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

It goes back to the 19th century, when students petitioned to eliminate proctors during examinations, according to the student newspaper.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

Quiet descended as proctors distributed booklets for Round 1: nine Sudoku puzzles, with a 45-minute time limit.

From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2023

Kayla and Kellie had turned in test papers with what the proctors deemed unusual similarities.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2022

At its core, Honorlock taps into students’ webcams during tests and uses AI to alert remote human proctors of any suspicious activity, such as if a student takes out their phone during an exam.

From The Verge ● Feb. 16, 2022

One girl went to fetch the proctors from over by the schoolhouse.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

Since then, I’ve used only work done in a proctored environment in computing my students’ grades.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026

Dr. Radhakrishnan, 33, was going through a similar process, proctored by his father, using the same website.

From New York Times ● May 27, 2022

We drove to a larger town in search of Wi-Fi so I could take a medical school exam proctored on Zoom.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2022

This year, the teammates took the tests from their homes, proctored over Zoom, through a Google Chrome program.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2021

Officials also are considering unusual measures to preserve testing if high school campuses and other venues for proctored exams remain off-limits because of the pandemic.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 12, 2020

Some classes have started reintroducing proctoring - the supervision of candidates during an examination - and spoken-word tests to avoid cheating, she said.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

On Monday, faculty voted to require proctoring in all in-person exams starting this summer, reversing a policy set in place in 1893 when Princeton introduced its honor code.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

Detect’s hub is small enough to carry for travel, and telehealth proctoring costs an extra $20.

From The Verge ● Jun. 3, 2022

After examining online proctoring software that medical students at Dartmouth College claimed had wrongly flagged them, Mr. Quintin suggested that schools have outside experts review evidence of cheating.

From New York Times ● May 27, 2022

In some colleges the honor system is found, under which even proctoring at examinations does not exist, as all disciplinary matters, including the decision in serious offenses like cheating, rest with the student council.

From College Teaching Studies in Methods of Teaching in the College by Paul Klapper

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