profess

pro·fess

verb \prə-ˈfes, prō-\

Definition of PROFESS

transitive verb

1

: to receive formally into a religious community following a novitiate by acceptance of the required vows

2

a : to declare or admit openly or freely : affirm b : to declare in words or appearances only : pretend, claim

3

: to confess one's faith in or allegiance to

4

a : to practice or claim to be versed in (a calling or profession) b : to teach as a professor

intransitive verb

1

: to make a profession or avowal

2

obsolete : to profess friendship

Examples of PROFESS

1. He professes confidence in his friend.
2. They profess loyalty to the king.

Origin of PROFESS

in sense 1, from Middle English, from profes, adjective, having professed one's vows, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin professus, from Latin, past participle of profitēri to profess, confess, from pro- before + fatēri to acknowledge; in other senses, from Latin professus, past participle — more at confess

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to PROFESS

Synonyms: act, affect, assume, bluff, counterfeit, dissemble, fake, pass (for), pretend, feign, put on, sham, simulate

Antonyms: deny, gainsay

Related Words: dissimulate, impersonate, let on, masquerade, play, playact, pose; forge, imitate; camouflage, conceal, disguise, mask; feint; malinger

Near Antonyms: minimize, understate; disregard, ignore, neglect, overlook

see all synonyms and antonyms

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Rhymes with PROFESS

abscess, access, address, aggress, assess, bench-press, caress, clothespress, coatdress, cold-press, compress, confess, cross-dress, CS, depress, de-stress, digress, distress, drill press, egress, excess, express, finesse, fluoresce, French press, full-dress, handpress, headdress, housedress, idlesse, impress, ingress, Meknes, much less, nightdress, noblesse, no less, obsess, oppress, outguess, possess, precess, prestress, princess, process, progress, recess, redress, regress, re-press, repress, shirtdress, side-dress, SS, success, sundress, suppress, tendresse, top-dress, transgress, undress, unless, web press, winepress, word stress