Profession

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              A solemn vow, promise, and profession. --Bk. of Com.
                                                    Prayer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. That which one professed; a declaration; an avowal; a
        claim; as, his professions are insincere.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The Indians quickly perceive the coincidence or the
              contradiction between professions and conduct. --J.
                                                    Morse.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Hi tried five or six professions in turn.
                                                    --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The three professions, or learned professions, are,
           especially, theology, law, and medicine.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     4. The collective body of persons engaged in a calling; as,
        the profession distrust him.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Eccl. Law.) The act of entering, or becoming a member of,
        a religious order.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  profession
       n 1: the body of people in a learned occupation; "the news spread
            rapidly through the medical community" [syn: {community}]
       2: an occupation requiring special education (especially in the
          liberal arts or sciences)
       3: an open avowal (true or false) of some belief or opinion; "a
          profession of disagreement" [syn: {professing}]
       4: affirmation of acceptance of some religion or faith; "a
          profession of Christianity"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  96 Moby Thesaurus words for "profession":
     acceptance, acknowledgment, admission, affidavit, affirmance,
     affirmation, allegation, allowance, announcement, annunciation,
     appreciation, art, assertion, asseveration, attest, attestation,
     averment, avouchment, avowal, business, calling, career,
     career building, careerism, claim, compurgation, concession,
     conclusion, confession, confession of faith, craft, creed,
     declaration, declaration of faith, deposition, dictum, disclosure,
     employment, enunciation, field, game, handicraft,
     instrument in proof, ipse dixit, job, legal evidence, lifework,
     line, line of business, line of work, manifesto, metier, mission,
     mystery, number, occupation, position, position paper,
     positive declaration, post, practice, predicate, predication,
     proclamation, pronouncement, proposition, protest, protestation,
     pursuit, racket, recognition, say, say-so, saying, situation,
     specialization, specialty, sphere, stance, stand, statement,
     sworn evidence, sworn statement, sworn testimony, testimonial,
     testimonium, testimony, trade, utterance, vocation, vouch, walk,
     walk of life, witness, word, work
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PROFESSION. This word has several significations. 1. It is a public 
  declaration respecting something. Code, 10, 41, 6. 
       2. It i's a state, art, or mystery; as the legal profession. Dig. 1, 
  18, 6, 4; Domat, Dr. Pub. 1. 1, t. 9, s. 1, n. 7. 3. In the ecclesiastical 
  law, it is the act of entering into a religious order. See 17 Vin. Ab. 545.