Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Profession?

\Pro*fes"sion\, n. [F., fr. L. professio. See {Profess}, v.] 1. The act of professing or claiming; open declaration; public avowal or acknowledgment; as, professions of friendship; a profession of faith. A solemn vow, promise, and profession. --Bk. of Com. Prayer. 2. That which one professed; a declaration; an avowal; a claim; as, his professions are insincere. The Indians quickly perceive the coincidence or the contradiction between professions and conduct. --J. Morse. 3. That of which one professed knowledge; the occupation, if not mechanical, agricultural, or the like, to which one devotes one's self; the business which one professes to understand, and to follow for subsistence; calling; vocation; employment; as, the profession of arms; the profession of a clergyman, lawyer, or physician; the profession of lecturer on chemistry. Hi tried five or six professions in turn. --Macaulay. Note: The three professions, or learned professions, are, especially, theology, law, and medicine. 4. The collective body of persons engaged in a calling; as, the profession distrust him. 5. (Eccl. Law.) The act of entering, or becoming a member of, a religious order.