1. (n.) A calling or occupation for which one professes knowledge; the occupation, if not mechanical, agricultural, or the like, to which one devotes one's self; the business which one professes to understand, and to follow for subsistence; calling; vocation; employment; as, the profession of arms; the profession of a clergyman, lawyer, or physician; the profession of lecturer on chemistry.
2. (n.) The act of professing or claiming; open declaration; public avowal or acknowledgment; as, professions of friendship; a profession of faith.
3. (v.) That which one professed; a declaration; an avowal; a claim; as, his professions are insincere.
4. (n.) The collective body of persons engaged in a calling; as, the profession distrust him.
5. (n.) The act of entering, or becoming a member of, a religious order.
Thesaurus Entries
acceptance, acknowledgment, admission, affidavit, affirmance, affirmation, allegation, allowance, announcement, annunciation, appreciation, art, assertion, asseveration, attest, attestation, averment, avouchment, avowal, business, calling, career, career building, careerism, claim, compurgation, concession, conclusion, confession, confession of faith, craft, creed, declaration, declaration of faith, deposition, dictum, disclosure, employment, enunciation, field, game, handicraft, instrument in proof, ipse dixit, job, legal evidence, lifework, line, line of business, line of work, manifesto, metier, mission, mystery, number, occupation, position, position paper, positive declaration, post, practice, predicate, predication, proclamation, pronouncement, proposition, protest, protestation, pursuit, racket, recognition, say, say-so, saying, situation, specialization, specialty, sphere, stance, stand, statement, sworn evidence, sworn statement, sworn testimony, testimonial, testimonium, testimony, trade, utterance, vocation, vouch, walk, walk of life, witness, word, work
