dean

noun

ˈdēn 

1

a

: the head of the chapter of a collegiate or cathedral church

b

: a Roman Catholic priest who supervises one district of a diocese

2

a

: the head of a division, faculty, college, or school of a university

b

: a college or secondary school administrator in charge of counseling and disciplining students

3

: doyen sense 1

dean intransitive verb

deanship

ˈdēn-ˌship 

noun

Synonyms of dean

• elder
• veteran
• nestor
• doyen
• elder statesman
• éminence grise
• senior

Examples of dean in a Sentence

She's the dean of the university's business school.

the dean of liberal arts

Recent Examples on the Web

In 1961, Carrie Meek became the first Black educator at Miami Dade College, then called North Dade Junior College, working her way through the ranks to associate dean and eventually becoming a state legislator and congresswoman. — Raisa Habersham, Miami Herald, 5 Sep. 2026

Rao Unnava stepped down as dean of the Graduate School of Management on July 1 after serving in that position for a decade. — Tarini Mehta, Sacbee.com, 4 Sep. 2026

Keke Palmer will serve as dean of well-being, with the multihyphenate talent bringing Practice by Palmer to the main stage as part of the event’s wellness programming. — Ryma Chikhoune, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2026

Neal, known as the dean of the New England House delegation, was first elected in 1988. — Kimberlee Kruesi, Los Angeles Times, 2 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English deen, from Anglo-French deen, deien, from Late Latin decanus chief of ten, from Greek dekanos, from deka ten — more at ten

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing dean

• dean's list
• rural dean
• sub-dean

Rhymes for dean

• bean
• bein
• bien
• bouin
• clean
• deen
• diene
• gene
• glean
• jean
• keen
• lien

Kids Definition

dean

noun

ˈdēn 

1

: the head of the chapter of a cathedral church

2

a

: the head of a division, faculty, college, or school of a university

b

: a college or secondary school administrator in charge of counseling or disciplining students

3

: the senior member of a group

the dean of the diplomatic corps

deanship

-ˌship 

noun

Biographical Definition

Dean

biographical name

ˈdēn 

Sir Patrick 1909–1994 British diplomat