professionalize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of professionalize
First recorded in 1855–60; professional + -ize
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:
Harfuch "sought to professionalize, to modernize the intelligence agency to go after crimes," said Gerardo Rodriguez, an academic expert in national security who met Harfuch in 2018.
From Barron's ● May 10, 2026
One of the efforts to professionalize the process is ICEList, a web database created by Dominick Skinner, an Irish activist based in the Netherlands.
From Slate ● Jan. 28, 2026
They hired Persy’s former babysitter, a graphic designer, to professionalize the designs and paid China-based Panda Games to manufacture the game.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
During his time in office, critics say López Obrador did little to professionalize Mexico’s municipal and state police forces, many of which have been accused of widespread corruption.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2024
Shawn wanted to professionalize the operation, to invest the profits from the Malad job in new equipment; Dad wanted things to stay the same.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
But as we round the first corner, almost all of the exhibits are the work of amateurs, conscripted from civilian life and professionalized into name, rank and number.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
As U.S. foreign policy became more professionalized, some historians have argued, the role of overseeing and executing it became a better fit for capable administrators than aspiring presidents.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
Among the offices housed in the East Wing is the Office of the First Lady, first professionalized by Eleanor Roosevelt during her husband’s administration.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2025
“These are highly professionalized individuals with a lot of experience in bargaining and conflict negotiation.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2025
Could I run some sort of after-school program, a professionalized version of what I’d done for Czerny at Princeton?
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Backers, including venture capital investors and the YouTube star MrBeast, are now aiming to cash in by professionalizing the strategy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
The strategy is built on professionalizing law enforcement and implementing the sorts of data-driven and community policing models used in many U.S. cities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2024
In the seventeenth century, as its enemies grew stronger, the empire became more inward-looking, focusing less on external expansion and more on resolving domestic affairs, professionalizing its bureaucracy, and conducting internal reforms.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
More recent efforts have focused on professionalizing these peers.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2022
In 1996, the government focused its attention to implementing an ambitious economic reform program and professionalizing its parliament.
From The 1998 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency
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.
