provost
pronunciation
How to pronounce provost in British English:
UK [ˈprɒvəst]
How to pronounce provost in American English:
US [ˈproʊvoʊst]
-
- Noun:
- a high-ranking university administrator
Word Origin
- provost
- provost: [OE] A provost is etymologically an official ‘placed before’ others – that is, put in charge of them. The word’s ancestor is Latin praepositus ‘superintendent’, a noun use of the past participle of praepōnere, a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘in front’ and pōnere ‘put’ (source of English position, post, etc). In medieval Latin a variant form prōpositus emerged, which was borrowed into Old English as profost. This was supplemented in Middle English by the Anglo-Norman form provost.=> position
- provost (n.)
- Old English profost, reinforced by Old French cognate provost, both from Late Latin propositus (reinforced by Old French cognate provost), from Latin propositus/praepositus "a chief, prefect" (source of Old Provençal probost, Old High German probost, German Propst), literally "placed before, in charge of," from past participle of praeponere "put before" (see preposition). Provost marshal first recorded 1510s.
Example
- 1. He became provost in 2006 and president the following year .
- 2. Drew 16 students last year , associate provost john keller said . Fifteen of them were women .
- 3. As provost , garber will partner with the president in defining the strategic academic vision for the university .
- 4. A separate survey by alan garber , provost of harvard university , concludes that competition might force out inefficient commissioners , gps or hospitals .
- 5. He then spent the next 27 years at the university of maryland , where he rose from assistant professor to provost , becoming an american citizen along the way .