profess
Americanverb (used with object)
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professes,
present (3rd person singular)
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professed,
past participle, past
-
professing
present participle
-
to lay claim to, often insincerely; pretend to.
He professed extreme regret.
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to declare openly; announce or affirm; avow or acknowledge.
to profess one's satisfaction.
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to affirm faith in or allegiance to (a religion, God, etc.).
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to declare oneself skilled or expert in; claim to have knowledge of; make (a thing) one's profession or business.
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to teach as a professor.
She professes comparative literature.
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to receive or admit into a religious order.
verb (used without object)
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professes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
professed,
past participle, past
-
professing
present participle
-
to make a profession, avowal, or declaration.
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to take the vows of a religious order.
verb
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to affirm or announce (something, such as faith); acknowledge
to profess ignorance
to profess a belief in God
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(tr) to claim (something, such as a feeling or skill, or to be or do something), often insincerely or falsely
to profess to be a skilled driver
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to receive or be received into a religious order, as by taking vows
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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professsimple
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professessimple
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have professedperfect
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has professedperfect
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am professingprogressive
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are professingprogressive
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is professingprogressive
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have been professingperfect progressive
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has been professingperfect progressive
Past
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professedsimple
-
had professedperfect
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was professingprogressive
-
were professingprogressive
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had been professingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of profess
1400–50; late Middle English; back formation from professed
Explanation
To profess is to declare something, often insincerely. Your joy on the last day of school might lead you to profess that you'll truly miss seeing all the people who annoyed you all year. You can profess something and mean it, but more often the verb profess is used when someone lies about their true feelings. You might profess your love of your grandmother's tuna casserole, or profess that you never bite your fingernails, but you're just saying what you think people want to hear. The original meaning of profess described taking religious vows, and came from the Latin word professus, meaning "having declared publicly."
Vocabulary lists containing profess
Words That Could Go Either Way: Synonyms for "Maybe"
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"Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell
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The Taming of the Shrew
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He continues to profess his confidence that Newey and Honda will eventually produce the best car and engine.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
I profess no ultimate wisdom but that’s what I’m getting from the comments that they make.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026
First, she had to stop fighting the Others, the term for the billions united in groupthink, and accept if not entirely trust that the collective love they profess to have for her is real.
From Salon ● Dec. 29, 2025
The two profess their love for each other.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
But still, it gave me the courage to profess my love to her.
From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya
He credits the small-town nondenominational congregants of his early years with living out the kind of communitarian values the rest of the world professes to value but mostly doesn’t.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Yet it simultaneously professes anxiety about an Asian American who has decidedly not stood apart from American institutions and culture: After graduating from Yale Law School, Wang clerked for two Supreme Court justices.
From Slate ● May 26, 2026
He professes a love for James Franco, drinking Guinness, thrifting, dancing in random bathrooms and delivering confessions from bed.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2025
Russell is aware of this as a potential scenario, but professes not to be remotely concerned about it.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025
“I see no enemy to a fortunate issue but in the brow; and that brow professes to say,—‘I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Xi Jinping must have chuckled at the president’s professed outrage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
McAfee has professed the benefits of unpasteurized milk in public libraries and chiropractor offices.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
He professed a belief in laissez-faire economics, signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, and remained over-focused on the value of the U.S. dollar.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
But Nexstar seems to be only aggravating the tension between its professed Middle America branding and its actual business moves.
From Slate ● Apr. 21, 2026
“Young Havisham’s name was Arthur. Compeyson is the man who professed to be Miss Havisham’s lover.”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
Haemon will confront his father, professing the depth of his own love, when Antigone’s life is threatened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
Mr Candunde and Mr Phiri have been charged under Zambia's Witchcraft Act with "possession of charms", "professing knowledge of witchcraft" and "cruelty to wild animals".
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2024
It shouldn’t be, since it’s clear what Instagram thinks your memories are really worth, despite professing so much concern over its users’ feedback.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2024
The Lucasfilm founder and longtime Disney shareholder released a statement professing his “full faith and confidence in the power of Disney and Bob’s track record of driving long-term value.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2024
He stopped playing games with us, and one day he approached Janae with a letter professing his undying love for her.
From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
