professor

[pruh-fes-er]

noun

1. a teacher of the highest academic rank in a college or university, who has been awarded the title Professor in a particular branch of learning; a full professor.

   a professor of Spanish literature.

2. any teacher who has the rank of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor.

3. a teacher.

4. an instructor in some art or skilled sport.

   a professor of singing; a professor of boxing.

5. a person who professes or declares particular sentiments, beliefs, etc.

professor

/ prəˈfɛsə, ˌprɒfɪˈsɔːrɪəl /

noun

1. the principal lecturer or teacher in a field of learning at a university or college; a holder of a university chair

2. any teacher in a university or college See also associate professor assistant professor full professor

3. a person who claims skill and instructs others in some sport, occupation, etc

4. a person who professes his opinions, beliefs, etc

Other Word Forms

• professorially adverb
• professorial adjective
• professorialism noun
• nonprofessorial adjective
• nonprofessorially adverb
• pseudoprofessorial adjective
• subprofessor noun
• unprofessorial adjective
• unprofessorially adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of professor¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English from Medieval Latin prōfessor “one who has taken the vows of a religious order,” Latin: “a public lecturer,” equivalent to prō- pro- ¹ + -fet-, combining form of fatērī “to acknowledge, declare” + -tor -tor, with tt becoming ss

Word History and Origins

Origin of professor¹

C14: from Medieval Latin: one who has made his profession in a religious order, from Latin: a public teacher; see _profess

Example Sentences

Mark Sculpher, professor of health economics at the University of York, said there is no logical link between the prices the NHS pays to pharmaceutical companies and their decisions to locate manufacturing in the U.K.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Musk got this “suicidal empathy” language from Gad Saad, a Canadian college professor who falsely presents himself as an “evolutionary behavioral scientist.”

Read more on Salon

"People were saying: 'Well, kids are getting more anxious. There must be a reason -- let's ban social media'," argued one signatory, Axel Bruns, a digital media professor at Queensland University of Technology.

Read more on Barron's

"The only way the monarchy works is by everybody either being apathetic or feeling very affectionate towards it," argues Anna Whitelock, a professor of the history of monarchy at City, University of London.

Read more on BBC

Such an education won’t discourage or penalize students who dissent from a professor’s perspective or from views dominant on the campus.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• assistant 
• educator 
• faculty member www.thesaurus.com
• fellow 
• instructor 
• lecturer 
• principal 
• teacher 
• tutor