# profiling

Pronunciation: say "PROH-fyl-ing" US /ˈpɹoʊfaɪlɪŋ/, UK /ˈpɹəʊfaɪlɪŋ/

## Noun

1. The forensic science of constructing an outline of a person's individual characteristics from evidence and behavior.
   - Simple: Building a picture of what kind of person a criminal is, using clues from a crime.
   - _The investigation relied on profiling to build a portrait of the unknown offender._
   - _Criminal profiling draws on patterns from past cases to describe a likely suspect._
3. In building military earthworks, the placing of wooden frames at set intervals to show workers the cross-sectional shape of the parapets.
   - Simple: The old army practice of putting up wooden guides so builders could shape the earth walls correctly.
   - _The engineer began the profiling at dawn, setting wooden frames along the planned parapet._
   - _Without proper profiling, the workers could not judge how steep to raise the slope._

## Verb

2. Present participle and gerund of profile. — present participle and gerund of profile
   - Simple: Present participle of profile. Use this form when the action is happening now.
   - _The software keeps profiling users as they browse the site._
   - _Profiling the suspect took the team several days of careful work._

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/profiling (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).