prəˈfeshən, prōˈ- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English professioun, from Old French profession, from Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin profession-, professio religious profession, from Latin, public declaration, from professus (past participle of profitērī to profess, confess) + -ion-, -io -ion — more at profess
1. : the act of taking the vows that consecrate oneself to special religious service
2. : an act of openly declaring or publicly claiming a belief, faith, or opinion : an avowed statement or expression of intention or purpose : protestation
his frequent professions about love and friendships belie a good deal of … his behavior — Joseph Chiari
his profession that logic is not the sole criterion of art — Lee Strasberg
welcomed by her two friends with many professions of pleasure — Jane Austen
3.
a. : Christian or religious conviction and purpose openly avowed
b. : the faith in which one is professed : a religion or religious system ; also : a religious body
4.
a. : a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive preparation including instruction in skills and methods as well as in the scientific, historical, or scholarly principles underlying such skills and methods, maintaining by force of organization or concerted opinion high standards of achievement and conduct, and committing its members to continued study and to a kind of work which has for its prime purpose the rendering of a public service — see learned profession
b. : a principal calling, vocation, or employment
preferred to move and move again, rather than give up their old profession of farming — G.W.Pierson
men who make it their profession to hunt the hippopotamus — J.G.Frazer
c. : the whole body of persons engaged in a calling
form an association that will reflect a credit on the profession — Thomas Pyles
5. archaic : professorial teaching or status