Library / English Dictionary

PROFESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

State insincerely

Example:

She pretends to be an expert on wine

Synonyms:

pretend; profess

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "profess" is one way to...):

claim (assert or affirm strongly; state to be true or existing)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 2

Meaning:

Confess one's faith in, or allegiance to

Example:

he professes to be a Communist

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "profess" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

professing (an open avowal (true or false) of some belief or opinion)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Admit (to a wrongdoing)

Example:

She confessed that she had taken the money

Synonyms:

concede; confess; profess

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "profess" is one way to...):

acknowledge; admit (declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "profess"):

fess up; make a clean breast of; own up (admit or acknowledge a wrongdoing or error)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

profession (an open avowal (true or false) of some belief or opinion)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be knowledgeable about

Example:

She professes organic chemistry

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "profess" is one way to...):

claim (assert or affirm strongly; state to be true or existing)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They profess to move

Sense 5

Meaning:

Take vows, as in religious order

Example:

she professed herself as a nun

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "profess" is one way to...):

vow (make a vow; promise)

Verb group:

profess (receive into a religious order or congregation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "profess"):

take the veil (become a nun)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

profession (affirmation of acceptance of some religion or faith)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Receive into a religious order or congregation

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "profess" is one way to...):

accept; admit; take; take on (admit into a group or community)

Verb group:

profess (take vows, as in religious order)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 7

Meaning:

State freely

Example:

The teacher professed that he was not generous when it came to giving good grades

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "profess" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Credits

 Context examples: 

The level of happiness or contentment that an individual professes, or is observed to display with regards to their life situation.

(Enjoyment of Life, NCI Thesaurus)

The bed, the carpet, the chairs the mantelpiece, the dead body, and the rope were each in turn examined, until at last he professed himself satisfied, and with my aid and that of the inspector cut down the wretched object and laid it reverently under a sheet.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I recognized him at once as Stanley Hopkins, a young police inspector, for whose future Holmes had high hopes, while he in turn professed the admiration and respect of a pupil for the scientific methods of the famous amateur.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Poor simple lad! he had not learned yet that what men are and what men profess to be are very wide asunder, and that the Knights of St. John, having come into large part of the riches of the ill-fated Templars, were very much too comfortable to think of exchanging their palace for a tent, or the cellars of England for the thirsty deserts of Syria.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen is to do pretty well; and professing myself moreover convinced that the general's unjust interference, so far from being really injurious to their felicity, was perhaps rather conducive to it, by improving their knowledge of each other, and adding strength to their attachment, I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

This passion Celine had professed to return with even superior ardour.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Darcy professed a great curiosity to see the view from the Mount, and Elizabeth silently consented.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

But, in return, your sister must allow me to feel no more than I profess.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

But are you so insensible as you profess yourself?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Mr. Dick professed an absolute certainty of having seen him before, and we both said, “Very likely.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)