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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

While other schools use committees to review course proposals, Harvard has long deferred to the judgment of individual faculty and departments, said Amanda Claybaugh, dean of undergraduate education.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Mr. Deptula is dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and a retired U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

We could have done better,’” recalls the former Harvard dean.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026

Minnie Driver is sadly underused as the school’s detached dean.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

In the early 1920s, Carter G. Woodson, a historian and educator who had earned a PhD in history from Harvard seventeen years after Du Bois, served as the colleges dean.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Her husband, Carl Dean, died last year, and the couple had no children.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Dean Chemerinsky said that when the justices pooh-poohed and batted aside aesthetic injury claims, that really raised questions for standing in a massive amount of environmental lawsuits.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

I would not be surprised to see James Trafford and Dean Henderson given opportunities in goal but it may be that by the tournament it is still his experience that gives Jordan Pickford the edge.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

Herbert handed off to Omarion Hampton on a draw, and the second-year back was met by linebacker Nakobe Dean and promptly fumbled — one of six on the day for the Chargers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

Dean Town is a real city—twenty thousand people, much bigger than Ogdentown.

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien

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

Law school deans, he said, were motivated to work with the state to come up with new and fair ways to assess aspiring attorneys’ competency.

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

The cost of cyclotrons already was raising the hackles of academic deans and presidents.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Related Words

• administrator
• legislator
• principal
• professor
• senior