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
dean
intransitive verb
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
Among them is Su Jionglong, deputy dean of the School of AI and Advanced Computing at Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University, who studies how the technology can help reduce discrimination, provide emotional support, and enable faster medical diagnoses.
—
Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 11 Oct. 2025
Aleksandar Tomic, an economist and associate dean for strategy, innovation, and technology at Boston College, said prediction markets like Polymarket have existed before.
—Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2025
Mentoring women in the power industry Thomas mentors doctoral students as well as professors who aspire to serve as deans or other high-level positions.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 Oct. 2025
Isabel Nuñez, dean of the School of Education at Purdue Fort Wayne, said bachelor’s programs in childhood education, elementary education and secondary education would merge into a single degree, but majors in those programs would still be available.
—Tory Basile, IndyStar, 7 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dean
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Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 11 Oct. 2025
Aleksandar Tomic, an economist and associate dean for strategy, innovation, and technology at Boston College, said prediction markets like Polymarket have existed before.
—Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2025
Mentoring women in the power industry Thomas mentors doctoral students as well as professors who aspire to serve as deans or other high-level positions.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 Oct. 2025
Isabel Nuñez, dean of the School of Education at Purdue Fort Wayne, said bachelor’s programs in childhood education, elementary education and secondary education would merge into a single degree, but majors in those programs would still be available.
—Tory Basile, IndyStar, 7 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dean
Cite this Entry
“Dean.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dean. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
dean
noun1
: 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
Biographical Definition
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