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

Allison was founding dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School, which for decades trained many of China’s government officials. — Evelyn Cheng, CNBC, 26 Sep. 2026

Nitin Nohria spent a decade as dean of Harvard Business School, and taught his first workshop there for new CEOs in 1997. — Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 25 Sep. 2026

According to Stephen Galloway, dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, there are three types of directors’ jail. — Chris Lee, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2026

Sirena Cantrell, dean of students and associate vice president of student affairs, expects another busy semester. — ABC News, 24 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