- a person appointed to any of various positions of command, authority, or superintendence, as a chief magistrate in ancient Rome or the chief administrative official of a department of France or Italy.
- Roman Catholic Church.
- the dean of a Jesuit school or college.
- a cardinal in charge of a congregation in the Curia Romana.
- a praepostor.
- (in France, Italy, etc) the chief administrative officer in a department
- (in France, etc) the head of a police force
- a schoolchild appointed to a position of limited power over his fellows
- (in ancient Rome) any of several magistrates or military commanders
- an official having jurisdiction over a missionary district that has no ordinary
- one of two senior masters in a Jesuit school or college (the prefect of studies and the prefect of discipline or first prefect)
- a cardinal in charge of a congregation of the Curia
