proctor

American  

[prok-ter] / ˈprɒk tər /

noun

• proctors
  plural

1. a person appointed to keep watch over students at examinations.

2. an official charged with various duties, especially with the maintenance of good order.

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verb (used with or without object)

• proctors,
  present (3rd person singular)
• proctored,
  past participle,  past
• proctoring
  present participle

1. to supervise or monitor.

proctor British  

/ prɒkˈtɔːrɪəl, ˈprɒktə /

noun

1. a member of the teaching staff of any of certain universities having the duties of enforcing discipline

2. (in a college or university) a supervisor or monitor who invigilates examinations, enforces discipline, etc

3. (formerly) an agent, esp one engaged to conduct another's case in a court

4. (formerly) an agent employed to collect tithes

5. Church of England one of the elected representatives of the clergy in Convocation and the General Synod

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verb

1. (tr) to invigilate (an examination)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• proctorship
  noun
• subproctor
  noun
• subproctorship
  noun
• proctorial
  adjective
• subproctorial
  adjective
• proctorially
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• proctors
  plural

Participles

• proctoring
  present
• proctored
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• proctor
  simple
• proctors
  simple
• have proctored
  perfect
• has proctored
  perfect
• am proctoring
  progressive
• are proctoring
  progressive
• is proctoring
  progressive
• have been proctoring
  perfect progressive
• has been proctoring
  perfect progressive

Past

• proctored
  simple
• had proctored
  perfect
• was proctoring
  progressive
• were proctoring
  progressive
• had been proctoring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will proctor
  simple
• will have proctored
  perfect
• will be proctoring
  progressive
• will have been proctoring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of proctor

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; contracted variant of procurator

Explanation

A proctor keeps an eye on students who are taking a test to make sure they don't cheat. The invention of the cell phone has certainly made proctors' lives tougher. For college entrance exams, students are often supervised by a professional proctor, while in less official situations, like a pop quiz, the proctor is usually the teacher herself. Proctor is both a noun and a verb, so you might say that a proctor's job is to proctor, or make sure no test-takers' eyes are straying. The Latin root word is procuratorem, which means "manager."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

proctor proctors proctored proctoring

When applying for a contract job at Mercor, applicants and former workers said they sat for a recorded interview with an unseen AI proctor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026

The proctor administering an exam in his pre-calc class this spring leaned in and whispered, “What are you doing here?” as Beyer handed in his test.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 28, 2022

Ambrozich accompanies her teams for longer trips to proctor exams and monitor study hall sessions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2022

The next month, two hours before a General Chemistry II test, the university’s testing service told Mr. Ogletree in an email that the proctor would be checking his work area before the exam.

From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2022

The proctor shuts the door and takes his seat.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

It goes back to the 19th century, when students petitioned to eliminate proctors during examinations, according to the student newspaper.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

Kayla and Kellie had turned in test papers with what the proctors deemed unusual similarities.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2022

Recently, these proctors discovered that Rekognition was mistakenly registering faces in photos or posters as additional people in the room.

From New York Times ● May 27, 2022

At its core, Honorlock taps into students’ webcams during tests and uses AI to alert remote human proctors of any suspicious activity, such as if a student takes out their phone during an exam.

From The Verge ● Feb. 16, 2022

One girl went to fetch the proctors from over by the schoolhouse.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

It is high time that we base student grades only on work done in proctored environments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026

Dr. Radhakrishnan, 33, was going through a similar process, proctored by his father, using the same website.

From New York Times ● May 27, 2022

Both Detect and Cue offer proctored tests on a video call, which give you verified results and easy documentation for traveling.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2022

We drove to a larger town in search of Wi-Fi so I could take a medical school exam proctored on Zoom.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2022

This year, the teammates took the tests from their homes, proctored over Zoom, through a Google Chrome program.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2021

Some classes have started reintroducing proctoring - the supervision of candidates during an examination - and spoken-word tests to avoid cheating, she said.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

For more than a century, Princeton University prided itself on an honor code so revered that proctoring during exams was banned.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

Some of the proctoring software allows a person monitoring an exam to take control of students’ devices, which poses privacy concerns in addition to the room scans, Bill Fitzgerald, a privacy researcher, said.

From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2022

Detect’s hub is small enough to carry for travel, and telehealth proctoring costs an extra $20.

From The Verge ● Jun. 3, 2022

In some colleges the honor system is found, under which even proctoring at examinations does not exist, as all disciplinary matters, including the decision in serious offenses like cheating, rest with the student council.

From College Teaching Studies in Methods of Teaching in the College by Paul Klapper