docent

noun

do·​cent ˈdō-sᵊnt  dō(t)-ˈsent 

1

: a college or university teacher or lecturer

2

: a person who leads guided tours especially through a museum or art gallery

Did you know?

The title of docent is used in many countries for what Americans would call an associate professor—that is, a college or university teacher who has been given tenure but hasn't yet achieved the rank of full professor. But in the U.S. a docent is a guide who works at a museum, a historical site, or even a zoo or a park. Docents are usually volunteers, and their services are often free of charge.

Examples of docent in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The crowds of teenagers and children listening raptly to the lectures of identical-looking docents in the back-to-back galleries in Untitled (Underpainting), 2018, imagine an art world infinitely more inclusive than the one Marshall entered as a young artist. —James Meyer, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026

There are volunteers, of course, Wayne Scott noted, particularly several of Cindy Scott’s fellow Nixon Library docents. —Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Oc Register, 5 Dec. 2025

The docent explained that, as a young artist, Rauschenberg was often short of cash, but felt—knew—that art could be made out of anything, even a bedcover. —Hilton Als, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025

But for more than 50 years, a group of volunteer docents at the San Jose Museum of Art have been doing their part — and probably yours and mine, too — to keep the arts accessible to classrooms. —Sal Pizarro, Mercury News, 6 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

obsolete German (now Dozent), from Latin docent-, docens, present participle of docēre — see docile

First Known Use

1880, in the meaning defined at sense 1