proconsul

¹ American  

[proh-kon-suhl] / proʊˈkɒn səl /

noun

1. 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.

2. any appointed administrator over a dependency or an occupied area.

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Proconsul ² American  

[proh-kon-suhl] / proʊˈkɒn səl /

noun

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

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proconsul British  

/ prəʊˈkɒnsjʊlə, prəʊˈkɒnsəl /

noun

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

2. (in ancient Rome) the governor of a senatorial province

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Other Word Forms

• proconsular adjective
• proconsularly adverb
• proconsulate noun

Etymology

Origin of proconsul¹

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

Origin of Proconsul¹

< 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

Example Sentences

But she has also fallen in love with the proconsul Pollione and is about to run off with him to Rome when she learns that he has secretly fathered two children by Norma.

From Washington Times

Olympia and her brother Nicanor, a Roman proconsul, are dealing with this pesky sectarian cult following some Jewish prophet murdered in Jerusalem.

From Washington Post

The retinue of our wealthiest constitutional king is as nothing compared with that of a petty satrap or a Roman proconsul.

From Project Gutenberg

They are innocent, for they fear God and not the proconsul.

From Project Gutenberg

Nothing which the scorned and scourged and thorn-crowned Jesus might have said about His Truth could have penetrated the thick skull of the gross and pride-filled Roman proconsul.

From Project Gutenberg