regent Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun members of a governing board
    trustee.
  2. noun someone who rules during the absence or incapacity or minority of the country's monarch
  3. adjective satellite acting or functioning as a regent or ruler
    • prince-regent

WordNet

Re"gent adjective
Etymology
L. regens, -entis, p. pr. of regere to rule: cf. F. régent. See Regiment.
Definitions
  1. Ruling; governing; regnant. "Some other active regent principle . . . which we call the soul." Sir M. Hale.
  2. Exercising vicarious authority. Milton.
Re"gent noun
Etymology
F. régent. See Regent, a.
Definitions
  1. One who rules or reigns; a governor; a ruler. Milton.
  2. Especially, one invested with vicarious authority; one who governs a kingdom in the minority, absence, or disability of the sovereign.
  3. One of a governing board; a trustee or overseer; a superintendent; a curator; as, the regents of the Smithsonian Institution.
  4. (Eng.Univ.) A resident master of arts of less than five years' standing, or a doctor of less than twwo. They were formerly privileged to lecture in the schools.

Webster 1913