profiles

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of profile.

   The dating app lets users edit their profiles at any time.

   Two suspect profiles matched the description given by witnesses.

   Note

   The plural belongs only to the countable meanings: outlines and side views, written summaries of people, and the pages users fill in online. When profile means reputation or prominence, or the amount something juts out, it usually stays singular, so a person keeps a high profile. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb, and the surrounding grammar tells them apart.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of profile.

   The software profiles the system's performance and flags any slow processes.

   She profiles potential clients before reaching out to them.

   Note

   In most of its uses this form needs a direct object. A journalist profiles a candidate, a machinist profiles a part by milling it, and a developer profiles a program to find its bottlenecks. The stereotyping sense is the exception: it can stand alone, as in "the agency profiles." A subject and an object around the word mark it as a verb rather than the plural noun.

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