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assistant professor

American  

noun

  1. a teacher in a college or university who ranks above an instructor and below an associate professor.


assistant professor British  

noun

  1. a university teacher lower in rank than an associate professor

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of assistant professor

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The episode draws on Amicus’ interview with Cherneff, a lawyer and visiting assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Law School.

From Slate Jul. 27, 2026

"This is a crusade," says Georgios Samaras, an assistant professor of public policy at King's College London who studies the European and US far right.

From BBC Jul. 27, 2026

Evidence for white dwarf kicks comes from research led by Kareem El-Badry, an assistant professor of astronomy at Caltech.

From Science Daily Jul. 21, 2026

Yes, stool tests can identify the parasite, but the standard stool and parasite screen doesn’t detect cyclospora, said Dr. Scott Roberts, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the Yale School of Medicine.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 17, 2026

Ifemelu had met him a few times, an assistant professor of history who had lived in Congo as a child.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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