profess

[ pruh-fes ]
See synonyms for: professprofessed on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)
  1. to lay claim to, often insincerely; pretend to: He professed extreme regret.

  2. to declare openly; announce or affirm; avow or acknowledge: to profess one's satisfaction.

  1. to affirm faith in or allegiance to (a religion, God, etc.).

  2. to declare oneself skilled or expert in; claim to have knowledge of; make (a thing) one's profession or business.

  3. to teach as a professor: She professes comparative literature.

  4. to receive or admit into a religious order.

verb (used without object)
  1. to make a profession, avowal, or declaration.

  2. to take the vows of a religious order.

Origin of profess

1
1400–50; late Middle English; back formation from professed

Other words for profess

Other words from profess

  • pre·pro·fess, verb (used with object)
  • un·pro·fess·ing, adjective

Words Nearby profess

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use profess in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for profess

profess

/ (prəˈfɛs) /


verb
  1. to affirm or announce (something, such as faith); acknowledge: to profess ignorance; to profess a belief in God

  2. (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

  1. to receive or be received into a religious order, as by taking vows

Origin of profess

1
C14: from Latin prōfitērī to confess openly, from pro- 1 + fatērī to confess

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012