Docent

//ˈdoʊ.sənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A teacher or lecturer at some universities (in central Europe, etc.)

    "Zermelo had been a docent at Göttingen when Kit was there and, like Russell, had been preoccupied with the set of all sets that are not members of themselves."

  2. 2
    a teacher at some universities wordnet
  3. 3
    A tour guide at a museum, art gallery, historical site, etc. US

    "The docent greeted the visitors and welcomed them to the Smithsonian."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Instructive; that teaches.

Example

More examples

"Zermelo had been a docent at Göttingen when Kit was there and, like Russell, had been preoccupied with the set of all sets that are not members of themselves."

Etymology

From Latin docēns, present participle of doceō (“to teach”). In the meaning of a university grade, as used in some Central European countries, it is clipped version of private docent, privat-docent, from German Privatdozent, from German Dozent.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.