Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, engaged in, or suitable for a profession: lawyers, doctors, and other professional people.
- adj. Conforming to the standards of a profession: professional behavior.
- adj. Engaging in a given activity as a source of livelihood or as a career: a professional writer.
- adj. Performed by persons receiving pay: professional football.
- adj. Having or showing great skill; expert: a professional repair job.
- n. A person following a profession, especially a learned profession.
- n. One who earns a living in a given or implied occupation: hired a professional to decorate the house.
- n. A skilled practitioner; an expert.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining or appropriate to a profession or calling: as, professional studies; professional skill.
- Engaged in a profession; being such by profession.
- Undertaken or engaged in for money or as a means of subsistence: opposed to amateur: said of sports and amusements: as, a professional base-ball match; a professional performance of a play.
- n. One who regularly pursues any profession or art.
- n. Specifically, a person who makes his living by an art, game, or sport in which amateurs are accustomed to engage for amusement or recreation. The term thus more specifically designates professional musicians, actors, ballplayers, oarsmen, boxers, etc.
Wiktionary
- n. A person who belongs to a profession
- n. A person who earns his living from a specified activity
- n. An expert.
- adj. Of, pertaining to, or in accordance with the (usually high) standards of a profession.
- adj. That is carried out for money, especially as a livelihood.
- adj. by extension Expert.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to a profession, or calling; conforming to the rules or standards of a profession; following a profession
- adj. Engaged in by professionals; ; -- opposed to
amateur . - n. A person who prosecutes anything professionally, or for a livelihood, and not in the character of an amateur; a professional worker.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an authority qualified to teach apprentices
- adj. of or relating to or suitable as a profession
- n. an athlete who plays for pay
- adj. of or relating to a profession
- adj. engaged in a profession or engaging in as a profession or means of livelihood
- adj. characteristic of or befitting a profession or one engaged in a profession
- adj. engaged in by members of a profession
- n. a person engaged in one of the learned professions
Examples
“I want to judge my players on their professional behaviour, their professional lives.”
“It took 11 years for her to get another pro film credit though the term "professional" applies only loosely to 1993's straight-to-VHS "Cyborg 2", though she spent time honing her craft in her brother's film school projects and music videos.”
The Huffington Post: Angelina Jolie's First Film: 'Lookin' To Get Out' With Dad Jon Voight (VIDEO)
“Also, the term professional distance sounds wrong to me, because I believe you have as much validity and professionalism for being in the E.D. as a paid social worker or other paid professional would.”
“The term professional is defined as engaging in a specified occupation for pay.”
“The term professional is used more generally to denote a white collar working person, or a person who performs commercially in a field typically reserved for hobbyists or amateurs.”
“Image via: the L Magazine, I discuss use of the term professional, and how MFA programs have defined the term.”
“The term professional is not meant to imply a high standard of commitment and attainment: it meant then, as it still does, the pursuit of a trade or calling to the end of paying the rent and buying liquor.”
“It is no more clearly demonstrated than in their ability to have the word "professional" "exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally business-like manner in the workplace" given a negative connotation by our country's judiciary when applied to counsel representing class members who object to proposed class action settlements and/or attorneys' fee requests -- the so-called "professional objector.”
“If you do fill out the FAFSA and your personal financial situation changes, maybe a lost job, as you suggest, you can ask for what they call a professional judgment review.”
“Today, it is so easy to respond to every notice by email that there are what I call professional posters.”
Marilyn Machlowitz: Advantages of Search Firms for Job Seekers and Employers
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘professional’.
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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Words starting with PRO
I've noticed many, many words start with PRO and this is just a collection of them.
professional, pronunciation, Prolagus, probable, prog, proximity, profit, procrastincate, prom, pronoun, promise, proactive and 206 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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pro-
moving forward; forth; before in place or time
proclivity, produce, pronoun, prolabor, prologue, prominent, proscribe, professional, process, procession, progress, progression
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ttobba's Words
graph, amore, labrador, sun, boreal, norsk, coffee, cafe, pekin, peking, train, rail and 97 more...
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dark and bright words of shine and fi...
scotophil, scotoma, scotia, shed, shadow, shade, scone, whiting, edelweiss, light, lightning, lucina and 349 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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ESL Academic Word List
This is a list of academic words for students learning English as a Second or Foreign Language. It includes 570 word families that often appear in academic texts. It does not include words that are...
collapse, depression, colleagues, invoked, levy, nonetheless, likewise, so-called, ongoing, conceived, forthcoming, integrity and 558 more...
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The Circle of Bash revels in . . .
vibes, boldness, significance, discipline, logic, fortitude, greatness, ripcord, mayhem, bashing, divination, voodoo and 38 more...
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Lost in transgenderation
An interesting list I found in the internet, on how the same word changes its meaning when used to describe a woman rather than a man.
(I'm translating from Italian, then adding new ones)courtesan, masseuse, professional, street, morals, public, easy, entertaining, enticer, willing, peripatetic, cubist and 8 more...
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cringewordie
...
recoil, gentleman, purchase, capitalize, rejoice, instigate, foliage, service, categorically, values, professional, tasteful and 7 more...
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expert
highly-skilled, expert, highly-acclaimed, professional, skilled, genius, pro, master, highly-qualified, specially-trained, technostalgic, creative and 1 more...
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Like
These are words I like.
professional, exumed, catacomb, zombie, blueberry, snap, zazzy, positive, shit, ridiculous, redonkulous, hood and 5 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for professional.
Prolagus A professional man: someone who knows well his job.
A professional woman: a trollop.
(see my list) Jun 13, 2008