professor

American  

[pruh-fes-er] / prəˈfɛs ər /

noun

• professors
  plural

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.

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professor British  

/ prəˈfɛsə /

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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• professors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of professor

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

Explanation

A professor is someone who teaches at a college or university. Professor is officially a teacher of the highest rank, above adjuncts and lecturers, but college students can call them all professor. The Latin origin of the word means “declare publicly,” and professors are responsible for publicly sharing their knowledge with the world, or at least with whoever can afford to pay them for lessons. Although anyone teaching college can be called a professor, it’s really a title that has to be earned by going to graduate school and moving up by being an assistant professor, then associate professor, and finally a full professor.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

professor professors

A new 50-state study from University of Colorado Denver finance professor Yosef Bonaparte, covering 2021 through 2024, found no statistically significant relationship between data-center presence, capacity growth and residential electricity-price inflation.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

Juliana Early is a professor at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen's University.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

The professor emailed me a few hours later to apologize.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Ford, a psychology professor with an expertise in biostatistics, answers prosecutorial questions about a life-altering trauma in a manner that leans on her scientific training for security.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

In May 1664, Hooke was a candidate for the post of professor of geometry at Gresham College, but lost out on the casting vote of the Lord Mayor.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

Rather than focus on the odds of a one-day crash, the professors focused on the probability of a 40% decline over a two-year period.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

The professors updated their study in 2023 and reached similar results.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

In another letter, two Viterbi professors also objected.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

Other professors had the ear of cabinet ministers and press barons and sat on royal commissions that shaped this or that national policy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

Or rather, everyone moved around us as professors started pulling each partner group in a different direction.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Related Words

• assistant
• educator
• faculty member
• fellow
• instructor
• lecturer
• principal
• teacher
• tutor