dean
1 Americannoun
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Education.
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the head of a faculty, school, or administrative division in a university or college.
the dean of admissions.
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an official in an American college or secondary school having charge of student personnel services, such as counseling or discipline.
the dean of men.
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the official in charge of undergraduate students at an English university.
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Ecclesiastical.
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the head of the chapter of a cathedral or a collegiate church.
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Also called vicar forane. a priest in the Roman Catholic Church appointed by a bishop to take care of the affairs of a division of a diocese.
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the senior member, in length of service, of any group, organization, profession, etc..
the dean of lexicographers.
noun
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James (Byron), 1931–55, U.S. actor.
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Jay Hanna Dizzy, 1911–74, U.S. baseball pitcher.
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a male given name: from the Old English family name meaning “valley.”
noun
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the chief administrative official of a college or university faculty
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(at Oxford and Cambridge universities) a college fellow with responsibility for undergraduate discipline
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Church of England the head of a chapter of canons and administrator of a cathedral or collegiate church
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RC Church the cardinal bishop senior by consecration and head of the college of cardinals See also rural dean
noun
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Christopher. See Torvill and Dean
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James ( Byron ). 1931–55, US film actor, who became a cult figure; his films include East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause (both 1955). He died in a car crash
noun
Other Word Forms
- deanship noun
Etymology
Origin of dean
1300–50; Middle English deen < Anglo-French deen, dean, Old French deien < Late Latin decānus chief of ten, equivalent to Latin dec ( em ) ten + -ānus -an
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Dental problems are very clearly associated with diabetes,” as well as heart problems and other health issues, said Paul Glassman, associate dean of the California Northstate University dentistry school.
From Los Angeles Times
In addition, the Syracuse dean said the dollar amounts involved are at a scale that Customs and Border Protection “has never processed.”
From MarketWatch
Four years earlier, he scrawled a crude joke about the dean in the men's toilet; he has failed every exam since.
From BBC
A senior associate dean at Rutgers told the American Medical Association in 2021, “It’s better, to me, to shorten the foundational science curriculum.”
Amir Pasic, dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, Indianapolis, said the biggest foundations have broad influence.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
