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. Julian Edelman:

   He is like a brother to me. He has helped me so much. He has been a huge part of mentally coaching me up just through his actions and how he is as a football player, as a professional, as a father and as a family man, it is an honor to get to play with a guy like that.

2. Coyne Schofield:

   We look to the WNBA as leaders in women's professional team sports and continue to fight for the day when women's professional hockey has an infrastructure that aligns with a model like the WNBA.

3. Juma Hamisi:

   There is only one dispensary in this village with only one health professional. Most areas surrounding the village are littered with garbage.

4. Police Commissioner Richard Ross:

   If you think about it logically, that if a business calls and they say that someone is here that I no longer wish to be in my business, they (the officers) now have a legal obligation to carry out their duties. And they did just that, they were professional in all their dealings with these gentlemen, and instead they got the opposite back.

5. Mike Pompeo:

   A report was published by special counsel Robert Mueller and we hope that this tumultuous situation will die down and we can finally move on to building more professional, constructive dialogue between Russia and the State Mike Pompeo.

Images & Illustrations of professional

Popularity rank by frequency of use