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View synonyms for professional

professional

[ pruh-fesh-uh-nl ]

adjective

  1. following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain:

    a professional builder.

  2. of, relating to, or connected with a profession:

    professional studies.

  3. appropriate to a profession:

    professional objectivity.

  4. engaged in one of the learned professions:

    A lawyer is a professional person.

  5. following as a business an occupation ordinarily engaged in as a pastime:

    a professional golfer.

  6. making a business or constant practice of something not properly to be regarded as a business:

    “A salesman,” he said, “is a professional optimist.”

  7. undertaken or engaged in as a means of livelihood or for gain:

    professional baseball.

  8. of or for a professional person or their place of business or work:

    a professional apartment; professional equipment.

  9. done by an expert:

    professional car repairs.



noun

  1. a person who belongs to one of the professions, especially one of the learned professions.
  2. a person who earns a living in a sport or other occupation frequently engaged in by amateurs:

    a golf professional.

  3. an expert player, as of golf or tennis, serving as a teacher, consultant, performer, or contestant; pro.
  4. a person who is expert at some kind of work:

    You can tell by her comments that this editor is a real professional.

professional

/ prəˈfɛʃənəl /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, suitable for, or engaged in as a profession
  2. engaging in an activity for gain or as a means of livelihood
    1. extremely competent in a job, etc
    2. (of a piece of work or anything performed) produced with competence or skill
  3. undertaken or performed for gain or by people who are paid


noun

  1. a person who belongs to or engages in one of the professions
  2. a person who engages for his livelihood in some activity also pursued by amateurs
  3. a person who engages in an activity with great competence
  4. an expert player of a game who gives instruction, esp to members of a club by whom he is hired

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Derived Forms

  • proˈfessionally, adverb

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Other Words From

  • pro·fes·sion·al·ly adverb
  • in·ter·pro·fes·sion·al adjective
  • pseu·do·pro·fes·sion·al adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of professional1

First recorded in 1740–50; profession + -al 1

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Example Sentences

Texas offers not just place to its actual or potential new residents, but professional possibilities.

Yet Texas does not foreclose professional opportunities for him.

In fact, I publicly vowed to abstain from The Ball in 2012, but professional responsibilities and curiosity got the better of me.

Soon thereafter, Bentivolio was asked to play Santa in downtown Milford and became a professional.

“By no means are we Grade A professional consultants,” Goff said.

My father, who was a professional cricketer, was smashed up by an accident, and I had three horrible years in employment in shops.

True, she had taken a lively interest in all her brother's curates, but it was always a professional interest and purely Platonic.

For these plays were not the work of a professional writer, but the recreation of a (temporary) professional soldier.

They require frequent cleaning with a long wire and a bit of tow, and in some large towns there are professional pipe-cleaners.

In conversing with professional gentlemen, never question them upon matters connected with their employment.

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professionprofessional association