Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

associate professor

American  

noun

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


associate professor British  

noun

  1. (in the US and Canada) a university teacher lower in rank than a full professor but higher than an assistant professor

  2. (in New Zealand) a senior lecturer holding the rank below 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 associate professor

First recorded in 1815–25

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:

“Donkeys are very strong animals; they bite, they kick,” said associate professor Marko Spasojevic.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

"It appears that measures are being implemented to quarantine any potential contacts and prevent any onward transmission," Malick Gibani, clinical associate professor in bacterial vaccinology, Imperial College London, said in a commentary.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

I am an associate professor of government at Cornell University, where my research through the Gender and Security Sector Lab examines how police and justice institutions can become more gender-responsive and trauma-informed.

From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2026

Commenting on Nikon's social media post, Edward Phelps, associate professor at Florida University, observed some of the structures "pop in and out of existence" and the cilia "appear from nowhere".

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

Graduate Dean George Birkhoff assured Ernest of Harvard’s high esteem for Oppenheimer “as a creative theorist” and confided that the university was willing to appoint him as an associate professor at $6,000.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training