profess
part of speech
verb (profess, professes, professed, professing)
meaning for a pupil
1) (formal) To say openly that you feel, believe or have something: He professed his love for chocolate. tree →
2) To claim something, often falsely: She professes to know everything. tree →
3) To openly follow a religion. tree →
4) Professed means openly declared or acknowledged as being a certain kind of person, such as a professed poet. tree →
sense in the lessons
A formal, bookish word used in stories and exam passages. Often it hints the claim is not quite true: «He professed to be an expert, but he could not even swim». It helps readers judge if a character is honest. Phrases: «profess to be», «profess ignorance», «professed love».
examples
- The knight professed his loyalty to the queen. tree →
- He professes to be the best player in school. tree →
- She professed not to know who ate the cake. tree →
- They profess a deep love of animals. tree →
- The so-called wizard professed great powers. tree →
- He professed ignorance of the rules. tree →
- There are many who are more the poets of nature than those who are professed poets. tree →
note
Regular verb: professed. Related: profession (a job like a doctor), professor (a university teacher) — though their meanings now differ. «Professed» can mean «claimed but maybe untrue».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «profess» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.