Showing results for "dean"

• a variation of dene.

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  Dean

  noun

  James (Byron), 1931–55, U.S. actor.

dean

¹ American  

[deen] / din /

noun

• deans
  plural

1. Education.

   1. the head of a faculty, school, or administrative division in a university or college.

      the dean of admissions.

   2. an official in an American college or secondary school having charge of student personnel services, such as counseling or discipline.

      the dean of men.

   3. the official in charge of undergraduate students at an English university.

2. Ecclesiastical.

   1. the head of the chapter of a cathedral or a collegiate church.

   2. Also called vicar forane. a priest in the Roman Catholic Church appointed by a bishop to take care of the affairs of a division of a diocese.

3. the senior member, in length of service, of any group, organization, profession, etc..

   the dean of lexicographers.

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Dean ² American  

[deen] / din /

noun

1. James (Byron), 1931–55, U.S. actor.

2. Jay Hanna Dizzy, 1911–74, U.S. baseball pitcher.

3. a male given name: from the Old English family name meaning “valley.”

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dean ¹ British  

/ diːn /

noun

1. the chief administrative official of a college or university faculty

2. (at Oxford and Cambridge universities) a college fellow with responsibility for undergraduate discipline

3. Church of England the head of a chapter of canons and administrator of a cathedral or collegiate church

4. RC Church the cardinal bishop senior by consecration and head of the college of cardinals See also rural dean

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Dean ² British  

/ diːn /

noun

1. Christopher. See Torvill and Dean

2. James ( Byron ). 1931–55, US film actor, who became a cult figure; his films include East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause (both 1955). He died in a car crash

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Dean ³ British  

/ diːn /

noun

1. a forest in W England, in Gloucestershire, between the Rivers Severn and Wye: formerly a royal hunting ground

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• deanship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• deans
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dean

1300–50; Middle English deen < Anglo-French deen, dean, Old French deien < Late Latin decānus chief of ten, equivalent to Latin dec ( em ) ten + -ānus -an

Explanation

A dean is the head of a specific area of a college, university, or private school. When you're thinking about studying in Madagascar for a semester, you might make an appointment to talk to the study abroad dean. Individual colleges within a larger university system often have separate deans, like the dean of the medical school and the dean of arts and sciences. Within the college, there might also be a dean for each separate year, like the sophomore class dean, and deans for different offices or departments. Dean comes from the Latin decanus, first "commander of ten soldiers," and then "head of ten monks in a monastery," from the Greek word for "ten," deka.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dean Dean deans

People in Upper Midwest states might pay less, but households in Southern and Gulf Coast states might end up paying more, said Alexis Abramson, dean of the Columbia Climate School.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026

Guzman, a former law school dean who became provost in 2023, faced similar tests over protests and free speech.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026

"This scientific breakthrough underscores the power of research to redefine what we thought was possible and advance new approaches to cancer treatment," said Sreekala Bajwa, dean of the agricultural college.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026

"That's really where the problems began," said Dr Shane Speights, dean of the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

It was too late to visit the dean of Tuskegee, so I went to the bus station and boarded a bus for Atlanta, via Auburn, Alabama.

From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin

Parton died “peacefully” on Aug. 25 following a brief battle with cancer in her hometown of Nashville, Tenn., where she and her late husband, Carl Dean, had lived for decades.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

The company was founded in 2023 by three Israeli engineers, brothers Dean and Orian Leitersdorf and Moshe Shalev.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

Dean told the BBC that customers were not spending as much, something he put down to the cost of living pressures.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Sparking debate among academics, Harvard College Dean David Deming has suggested the "acceptance, or even encouragement" of AI in writing-based courses, according to the Harvard Crimson student newspaper.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

Dean, who had helped organize the cover-up, described the Plumbers and the Ellsberg break-in.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Now she is besieged by an array of faculty, unions and deans.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

As part of the role, monarchs are responsible for approving the appointment of archbishops, bishops and deans on the recommendation of the prime minister.

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026

“We understand that the initial departure from the nationally used MBE was prompted by budgetary considerations caused in part by the need to rent large spaces for test-takers,” the deans wrote.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2025

“He has built strong relationships with deans, faculty and staff across USC and Keck Medicine, earning respect from everyone,” it continues.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2025

Twelve o’clock: I resumed my studies in the attic, reading about deans, priests, ministers, popes and...whew, it was one o’clock!

From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank

Related Words

• administrator
• legislator
• principal
• professor
• senior