proconsul

[proh-kon-suh l]

noun

Roman History. an official, usually a former consul, who acted as governor or military commander of a province, and who had powers similar to those of a consul.

any appointed administrator over a dependency or an occupied area.

Origin of proconsul

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin prōconsul; see pro-¹, consul

Related formspro·con·su·lar, adjectivepro·con·su·lar·ly, adverb

Proconsul

[proh-kon-suh l]

noun

an African subgenus of Dryopithecus that lived 17–20 million years ago and is possibly ancestral to modern hominoids.

Origin of Proconsul

< New Latin (1933), equivalent to pro- pro-¹ + Consul, allegedly the name of a chimpanzee in a London zoo (with a pun on Latin prōconsul proconsul); the genus was thought to be ancestral to the chimpanzee

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for proconsul

Contemporary Examples of proconsul

Government authority then rested with the Coalition Provisional Authority proconsul L. Paul Bremer.
What If the Iraq War Never Happened?
Michael Ware
March 20, 2013

Historical Examples of proconsul

This speech so much enraged the proconsul, that Nichomachus was put to the rack.
Fox's Book of Martyrs
John Foxe
Shatrak demanded, looking from the Proconsul to the Ministerial Secretary.
A Slave is a Slave
Henry Beam Piper
The case was tried by the proconsul himself, Claudius Maximus.
The Apologia and Florida of Apuleius of Madaura
Lucius Apuleius
Even if the proconsul should ask me himself who my god is, I am dumb.
The Apologia and Florida of Apuleius of Madaura
Lucius Apuleius
When the morning came, the Roman Proconsul saw the Greek in his cell.
Saronia
Richard Short

British Dictionary definitions for proconsul

proconsul

noun

an administrator or governor of a colony, occupied territory, or other dependency

(in ancient Rome) the governor of a senatorial province

Derived Formsproconsular (prəʊˈkɒnsjʊlə), adjectiveproconsulate or proconsulship, noun

Word Origin for proconsul

C14: from Latin, from prō consule (someone acting) for the consul. See pro- ², consul

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

Word Origin and History for proconsul

late 14c., "governor or military commander of an ancient Roman province," from Latin proconsul "governor of a province; military commander," from phrase pro consule "(acting) in place of a consul," from pro- "in place of" (see pro-) + ablative of consul. In modern use usually rhetorical, but it was a title of certain commissioners in the French Revolution, was used in English for "deputy consul," and was used again of U.S. administrators in Iraq during the occupation. Related: Proconsular.