v. t. | 1. | |
1. | To make open declaration of, as of one's knowledge, belief, action, etc.; to avow or acknowledge; to confess publicly; to own or admit freely. | |
2. | To set up a claim to; to make presence to; hence, to put on or present an appearance of. | |
3. | To present to knowledge of, to proclaim one's self versed in; to make one's self a teacher or practitioner of, to set up as an authority respecting; to declare (one's self to be such); | |
v. i. | 1. | To take a profession upon one's self by a public declaration; to confess. |
2. | To declare friendship. |
Verb | 1. | profess - practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be knowledgeable about; "She professes organic chemistry" |
2. | profess - confess one's faith in, or allegiance to; "The terrorists professed allegiance to the Muslim faith"; "he professes to be a Communist" | |
3. | profess - admit, make a clean breast of; "She confessed that she had taken the money" | |
4. | profess - state freely; "The teacher professed that he was not generous when it came to giving good grades" | |
5. | profess - receive into a religious order or congregation | |
6. | profess - take vows, as in religious order; "she professed herself as a nun" | |
7. | profess - state insincerely; "He professed innocence but later admitted his guilt"; "She pretended not to have known the suicide bomber"; "She pretends to be an expert on wine" Synonyms: pretend |