provost

American  

[proh-vohst, prov-uhst, proh-voh] / ˈproʊ voʊst, ˈprɒv əst, ˈproʊ voʊ /

noun

provosts plural

1. a person appointed to superintend or preside.

2. an administrative officer in any of various colleges and universities who holds high rank and is concerned with the curriculum, faculty appointments, etc.

3. Ecclesiastical. the chief dignitary of a cathedral or collegiate church.

4. the steward or bailiff of a medieval manor or an officer of a medieval administrative district.

5. the mayor of a municipality in Scotland.

6. Obsolete. a prison warden.

---

provost British  

/ ˈprɒvəst /

noun

1. an appointed person who superintends or presides

2. the head of certain university colleges or schools

3. (in Scotland) the chairman and civic head of certain district councils or (formerly) of a burgh council Compare convener

4. Church of England the senior dignitary of one of the more recent cathedral foundations

5. RC Church

   1. the head of a cathedral chapter in England and some other countries

   2. (formerly) the member of a monastic community second in authority under the abbot

6. (in medieval times) an overseer, steward, or bailiff in a manor

7. obsolete a prison warder

8. military a military policeman

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• provostship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• provosts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of provost

before 900; Middle English; Old English profost < Medieval Latin prōpositus abbot, prior, provost, literally, (one) placed before, Latin: past participle of prōpōnere. See pro- ¹, posit

Explanation

A provost is an administrator at a college or university. The provost is very important to the school. If you go to a middle school or high school, you've probably never heard of a provost. That's because this is a type of high-ranking administrator at a college or university. The provost usually ranks higher than the deans (who head different departments) but not as high as the president of the school. The provost is involved with many important decisions for the school. This word originally referred to a religious leader, and it still carries a lot of authority.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

provost provosts

Jim Davis, the president there and Will Inboden, who’s the provost.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

“The grants and the scholarships will absolutely help” with enrollment and retention, said Heather Lattimer, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Cal State L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2026

“A UC degree, that has proven to pay dividends, is the gold standard for public higher education,” Han Mi Yoon-Wu, UC’s associate vice provost for systemwide undergraduate admissions, said in a statement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2026

Mr. Halpern is the senior adviser to the provost at Yeshiva University.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025

“You are the wife of Kostas Vilkas, provost at the university?” asked a man in a suit sitting down from us.

From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys

This forces department chairs, deans, provosts and research vice presidents to own the veracity of every proposed publication.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

We, the authors, served as three of the five permanent or interim provosts and chief academic officers at WSU from 2008-20.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 14, 2024

The study added that between 1636 and 1834, 79 lord provosts were nominated to Glasgow Town Council, 40 of whom had connections to Atlantic slavery and others who owned enslaved people.

From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2022

Some will mostly keep college provosts up at night.

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2021

It was what Andrew Carnegie called "university week" at Skibo, for in accordance with an annual custom he had as his guests the provosts of the several Scotch universities.

From Under Four Administrations From Cleveland to Taft by Straus, Oscar S.