Definitions for professional
prəˈfɛʃ ə nlpro·fes·sion·al

Princeton's WordNet(2.37 / 8 votes)Rate this definition:

1. professional, professional personnoun

   a person engaged in one of the learned professions

2. professional, pronoun

   an athlete who plays for pay

3. master, professionaladjective

   an authority qualified to teach apprentices

4. professionaladjective

   engaged in a profession or engaging in as a profession or means of livelihood

   "the professional man or woman possesses distinctive qualifications"; "began her professional career after the Olympics"; "professional theater"; "professional football"; "a professional cook"; "professional actors and athletes"

5. professionaladjective

   of or relating to or suitable as a profession

   "professional organizations"; "a professional field such as law"

6. professionaladjective

   characteristic of or befitting a profession or one engaged in a profession

   "professional conduct"; "professional ethics"; "a thoroughly professional performance"

7. professionaladjective

   of or relating to a profession

   "we need professional advice"; "professional training"; "professional equipment for his new office"

8. professionaladjective

   engaged in by members of a profession

   "professional occupations include medicine and the law and teaching"

Wiktionary(4.40 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. professionalnoun

   A person who belongs to a profession

2. professionalnoun

   A person who earns his living from a specified activity

3. professionalnoun

   An expert.

4. professionaladjective

   Of, pertaining to, or in accordance with the (usually high) standards of a profession.

5. professionaladjective

   That is carried out for money, especially as a livelihood

6. professionaladjective

   Expert

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Professionaladjective

   of or pertaining to a profession, or calling; conforming to the rules or standards of a profession; following a profession; as, professional knowledge; professional conduct

2. Professionaladjective

   engaged in by professionals; as, a professional race; -- opposed to amateur

3. Professionalnoun

   a person who prosecutes anything professionally, or for a livelihood, and not in the character of an amateur; a professional worker

Freebase(4.00 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Professional

   A professional is a person who is engaged in a certain activity, or occupation, for gain or compensation as means of livelihood; such as a permanent career, not as an amateur or pastime. The traditional professions were doctors, engineers, lawyers, architects and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to nurses, accountants, educators, scientists, technology experts, social workers, artists, librarians and many more. The term is also used in sports to differentiate amateur players from those who are paid—hence "professional footballer" and "professional golfer". Many companies include the word professional in their store name to imply the quality of their workmanship or service. In some cultures, the term is used as shorthand to describe a particular social stratum of well-educated, salaried workers who enjoy considerable work autonomy and are commonly engaged in creative and intellectually challenging work. Due to the personal and confidential nature of many professional services, and thus the necessity to place a great deal of trust in them, most professionals are subject to strict codes of conduct enshrining rigorous ethical and moral obligations.

Editors Contribution(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. professional

   A person that earns a living from a specific activity.

   Their Dad was a professional golf player.

   Submitted by MaryC on December 30, 2019  

Matched Categories

1. • Adult

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'professional' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #928

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'professional' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1937

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'professional' in Nouns Frequency: #1391

4. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'professional' in Adjectives Frequency: #112

How to pronounce professional?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say professional in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of professional in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of professional in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of professional in a Sentence

1. President Obama:

   This self-reflection, this willingness to examine ourselves, to make corrections, to do better, that's part of what makes us Americans. It's part of what sets us apart from other nations, the United States is the most professional, most capable, most cutting-edge intelligence community in the world.

2. Donnie Wiseman:

   I was scared for a minute, but she was so professional and trained and knew what to do in a situation like that. I'm glad she was there, a crazy situation. I'm really not sure what to say, I'm just glad that girl's OK.

3. Patricia Bates:

   Whether it’s at the Division I college, or professional level, they have that drive, and that translates very well in our business.

4. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk:

   In our opinion it was carried out solely from territory controlled by Russian fighters and there is no doubt that drunken separatists are not able to operate Buk systems and this means these systems were operated solely by professional Russian soldiers.

5. Kaj Hed:

   When the success came to us, we weren't ready, it came so quickly, now, we are able to handle everything around the (upcoming) movie in a more systematic and professional way.

Popularity rank by frequency of use