profession
noun
Simple meaning
An occupation requiring special education.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pruhfehshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɹəˈfɛʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences)
The body of people in a learned occupation
“The news spread rapidly through the medical profession.”
An occupation, trade, craft, or activity in which one has a professed expertise in a particular area; a job, especially one requiring a high level of skill or training.
collective
The practitioners of such an occupation collectively.
An open avowal (true or false) of some belief or opinion
Any declaration of belief, faith or one's opinion, whether genuine or (as now often implied) pretended.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences)
Used this way, profession is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use profession
- “The news spread rapidly through the medical profession.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Engaged in a profession or engaging in as a profession or means of livelihood.
In a professional manner.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The body of professional economists.
The body of individuals whose work helps to maintain the health of their clients.
One of the three professions traditionally believed to require advanced learning and high principles.
The body of individuals qualified to practice law in a particular jurisdiction.
The body of individuals who are qualified to practice medicine.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A person engaged in one of the learned professions.
An association of practitioners of a given profession.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.