profession
Pluralprofessions
- 1An occupation requiring advanced education or specialized training, in which a person claims expertise in a particular field.
Medicine is a demanding profession that requires years of study.
He left the legal profession to start his own business.
Similaroccupation, career, vocation, calling, field
Note
The working sense keeps its root in plain view. A profession was once something professed, and the professional is someone who declares an expertise. It pairs readily with by, as in 'a barrister by profession.' It also turns up in talk of choosing a career: George Bernard Shaw's Cashel Byron's Profession (1886) has young Cashel decide the army is 'the only profession.'
- 2The body of people who practice a particular skilled occupation, considered collectively.
The legal profession has called for reform of the courts.
Architects across the profession debated the new building code.
Similarfield
- 3A statement affirming one's belief in the teachings of a religion, and by extension the faith a person follows.
Baptism was followed by a public profession of belief before the congregation.
Their profession of Christianity shaped every law in the kingdom.
Similarconfession, declaration, affirmation, avowal
Note
The declaration widens from a monk's vow to any believer's open statement of faith. It then slides from the act to its content, so a profession can be what one says or what one holds. William Cowper, writing in 1780, warns of 'odium upon the profession they make.' The verb is make again, as with the vow of a religious order.
- 4A formal vow or promise made upon entering a religious order, such as a monastery or convent.
The novice made her profession before the assembled community.
Solemn profession marked his final commitment to the monastic life.
Similarvow
Note
Here the word names a vow, not a job. Latin professiō was a public avowal, and Old French already used profession both for religious vows and for an occupation. The usual verb is make: Matthew Lewis's The Monk (1796) has a novice who 'intended to make his profession.' The noun can also stand alone for the ceremony itself, as in 'a few years after her profession.'
- 5A declaration of one's belief, faith, or opinion: genuine, or, as is now often implied, merely pretended.
Her profession of innocence convinced few in the courtroom.
The minister's professions of reform proved empty within a year.
Similardeclaration, claim, protestation, assertion, avowal
Note
Outside religion the word has turned skeptical. Professions of innocence or goodwill are usually reported by someone who doubts them, and the plural suits repeated assurances. Letitia Elizabeth Landon's Ethel Churchill (1837) wishes it were possible 'to believe only a tithe of the professions that are made me.' In current use the word often stresses the claim rather than the conviction behind it.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English 'professioun', via Anglo-Norman and Old French 'profession' (meaning a declaration of faith, religious vows, or occupation), from Latin 'professiō' ('avowal, public declaration'), based on the verb 'profitērī' ('to profess'). It can be analyzed as 'profess' plus '-ion'.