provost

American  

[proh-vohst, prov-uhst, proh-voh] / ˈproʊ voʊst, ˈprɒv əst, ˈproʊ voʊ /

noun

provosts plural

1. a person appointed to superintend or preside.

2. an administrative officer in any of various colleges and universities who holds high rank and is concerned with the curriculum, faculty appointments, etc.

3. Ecclesiastical. the chief dignitary of a cathedral or collegiate church.

4. the steward or bailiff of a medieval manor or an officer of a medieval administrative district.

5. the mayor of a municipality in Scotland.

6. Obsolete. a prison warden.

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provost British  

/ ˈprɒvəst /

noun

1. an appointed person who superintends or presides

2. the head of certain university colleges or schools

3. (in Scotland) the chairman and civic head of certain district councils or (formerly) of a burgh council Compare convener

4. Church of England the senior dignitary of one of the more recent cathedral foundations

5. RC Church

   1. the head of a cathedral chapter in England and some other countries

   2. (formerly) the member of a monastic community second in authority under the abbot

6. (in medieval times) an overseer, steward, or bailiff in a manor

7. obsolete a prison warder

8. military a military policeman

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• provostship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• provosts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of provost

before 900; Middle English; Old English profost < Medieval Latin prōpositus abbot, prior, provost, literally, (one) placed before, Latin: past participle of prōpōnere. See pro- ¹, posit

Explanation

A provost is an administrator at a college or university. The provost is very important to the school. If you go to a middle school or high school, you've probably never heard of a provost. That's because this is a type of high-ranking administrator at a college or university. The provost usually ranks higher than the deans (who head different departments) but not as high as the president of the school. The provost is involved with many important decisions for the school. This word originally referred to a religious leader, and it still carries a lot of authority.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

provost provosts

Terri Gomez, a 27-year veteran in higher education and a lifelong resident of the Inland Empire, is currently the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Cal Poly Pomona, a university statement said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

“A lot of them are essentially independent contractors, so it’s a slightly different trajectory than someone who goes to an engineering program,” said Michael Bryant, interim provost at CalArts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

Applicants felt obligated to respond, but sometimes repeated what they had already written elsewhere in the application, said Grace Chapin James, assistant vice provost for undergraduate admissions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

I think Santiago Schnell, the new provost at Dartmouth is a really special guy and he’s a quantitative biologist, which is a hard thing to think about.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

A punishment tour for Clevinger was fifty minutes of a weekend hour spent pacing back and forth before the provost marshal’s building with a ton of an unloaded rifle on his shoulder.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

This forces department chairs, deans, provosts and research vice presidents to own the veracity of every proposed publication.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

Among those backing the effort are former New College provosts, Bard College in New York and PEN America, a free expression advocacy group.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 1, 2023

The study added that between 1636 and 1834, 79 lord provosts were nominated to Glasgow Town Council, 40 of whom had connections to Atlantic slavery and others who owned enslaved people.

From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2022

In October, the university hosted 66 college presidents and provosts for a conference on free speech.

From Slate ● Mar. 23, 2018

The mayor of Bristol was helped by two assistants, who were called provosts until 1267, and from 1267 to 1311 were known as stewards, and after that date as bailiffs.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" by Various