dean
/diːn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.40 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A senior official in a college or university, who may be in charge of a division or faculty (for example, the dean of science) or have some other advisory or disciplinary function (for example, the dean of students).
noun
A dignitary or presiding officer in certain church bodies, especially an ecclesiastical dignitary, subordinate to a bishop, in charge of a chapter of canons.
noun
A hill.
noun
Alternative form of dene.
Example Sentences
- "Lucretius versus the Lake Poets ' Nature I loved ; and next to Nature , Art . ' Dean , adult education may seem silly . What of it though ? I got some willy - nilly The other evening at your college deanery . And grateful for it ( Let's not be facetious!)[…]"
- "dean of the diplomatic corps - a country's most senior ambassador"
- "dean of the House - the longest-serving member of a legislature"
- "All of the switchboard operators had been parties to it, including Marie Willis. Their dean, Alice Hart, collected[…]"
- "On the normier part of the spectrum are liberal influencers like Dean Withers and Harry Sisson, who have transferred the “debate me, bro” spirit of early YouTube to TikTok Live."
Etymology
From Middle English den, deen (“dean”), from Anglo-Norman deen and continental Old French deien (modern French doyen), from Latin decānus. Doublet of doyen.