professionalize

[ pruh-fesh-uh-nl-ahyz ]

/ prəˈfɛʃ ə nlˌaɪz /

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verb (used with object), pro·fes·sion·al·ized, pro·fes·sion·al·iz·ing.

to give a professional character or status to; make into or establish as a profession.

verb (used without object), pro·fes·sion·al·ized, pro·fes·sion·al·iz·ing.

to become professional.

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Also especially British, pro·fes·sion·al·ise .

Origin of professionalize

First recorded in 1855–60; professional + -ize

OTHER WORDS FROM professionalize

pro·fes·sion·al·ist, nounpro·fes·sion·al·i·za·tion, noun

Words nearby professionalize

professional, professional association, professional corporation, professional foul, professionalism, professionalize, Professional Standards Review Organization, professor, professorate, professoriate, professorship

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use professionalize in a sentence

Robert Peel — who would go on to become prime minister — he was devoted to professionalizing London’s police force.
What Are the Police for, Anyway? (Ep. 476)|Stephen J. Dubner|September 23, 2021|Freakonomics
Troll farms—professionalized groups that work in a coordinated fashion to post provocative content, often propaganda, to social networks—were still building massive audiences by running networks of Facebook pages.
Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election, internal report shows|Karen Hao|September 17, 2021|MIT Technology Review
It may in fact be too late for the NCAA to make changes to control the momentum toward paying student-athletes and professionalizing college sports.
Nothing Unites Left And Right Like Opposition To The NCAA|Sarah Shachat|June 22, 2021|FiveThirtyEight
When Parker became chief of police in 1950, for example, he extended the LAPD’s insulation from civilian oversight and professionalized the department by raising standards and bolstering the internal disciplinary process.
The hidden obstacle to police accountability|Max Felker-Kantor|April 16, 2021|Washington Post

When it came to the police, new rounds of charter reform in the 1920s were intended to professionalize the department by removing political influence out of concerns that corrupt police officers enforced the will of politicians.
The hidden obstacle to police accountability|Max Felker-Kantor|April 16, 2021|Washington Post
The personality of many who engage in the work is too ordinary to professionalize any calling.
Rural Life and the Rural School|Joseph Kennedy

British Dictionary definitions for professionalize

professionalize

professionalise

/ (prəˈfɛʃənəˌlaɪz) /

verb

(tr) to impose a professional structure or status on (something)

Derived forms of professionalize

professionalization or professionalisation, noun

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