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

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

1. professional, professional person(noun)

   a person engaged in one of the learned professions

2. professional, pro(noun)

   an athlete who plays for pay

3. master, professional(adj)

   an authority qualified to teach apprentices

4. professional(adj)

   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. professional(adj)

   of or relating to or suitable as a profession

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

6. professional(adj)

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

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

7. professional(adj)

   of or relating to a profession

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

8. professional(adj)

   engaged in by members of a profession

   "professional occupations include medicine and the law and teaching"

Wiktionary(5.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. professional(Noun)

   A person who belongs to a profession

2. professional(Noun)

   A person who earns his living from a specified activity

3. professional(Noun)

   An expert.

4. professional(Adjective)

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

5. professional(Adjective)

   That is carried out for money, especially as a livelihood

6. professional(Adjective)

   Expert

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

1. Professional(adj)

   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. Professional(adj)

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

3. Professional(noun)

   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  

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

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

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. Marianne Baker:

   In all my years working for Senator Vice President Biden, I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct, period -- not from Ms. Tara Reade, not from anyone. I have absolutely no knowledge or memory of Ms. Reade's accounting of events, which would have left a searing impression on me as a woman professional, and as a manager, these clearly false allegations are in complete contradiction to both the inner workings of our Senate office and to the man I know and worked so closely with for almost two decades.

2. Guo Yutuan:

   We are using life detection instruments to monitor signs of life and professional breaking-in tools to make forcible entries. We are trying our utmost to save trapped people.

3. Evan Esar:

   America believes in education the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.

4. Prashant Agarwal:

   As life goes by, in due course of time, we understand the real importance of the things that actually matters to us, for instance, once we start learning through our experiences, we try to accomplish it in our milestone. Once we start rectifying our own mistakes, we face less failures and Once we start realizing our need rather than our desire, then our focus will be clear and satisfaction touches our heart. It undoubtedly grows us, in various aspects of our life, no matter it is our Professional realm or personal relations.

5. Mark Dayton:

   I want to appoint the person whom I believe will best represent the people of Minnesota in the Senate, she has impeccable integrity and the highest personal and professional standards. She will be a senator of whom all Minnesotans will be proud.

Images & Illustrations of professional

Popularity rank by frequency of use