professional
UK/pɹəˈfɛʃ.ə.nəl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/pɹəˈfeʃ.ə.nəl/
professional noun: a person who belongs to a profession.
Noun
professional (plural professionals)
- A person who belongs to a profession.
- A white-collar worker, especially one with a specialized, high-earning job such as a doctor or engineer.
- […]extra income earned this way is normally used for buying consumer goods, such as a cottage, car, boat, and so on, irrespective of whether the recipient is a professional or a tradesman.1987 June 18, Alena Heitlinger, Reproduction, Medicine and the Socialist State, Springer, →ISBN, page 104
- They devised their own categories in which the working class formed a smaller proportion of the electorate:
• I Salariat (managers, administrators, professionals, semi-professionals)2014 June 3, Mark Garnett, Philip Lynch, Exploring British Politics, Routledge, →ISBN, page 517
- A person who earns their living from a specified activity.
- My son, a Canada-based IT professional who often travels to Ukraine, told me about the exhilarating atmosphere on those Ukraine-bound trains, bringing home hundreds of the unwilling refugees, mostly women and children (including the babies, born in exile on the way to meet their Ukrainian fighter...2024 September 4, Vitali Vitaliev, “A salute to Ukraine's 'Second Army'”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 49
- A prostitute.
- There was this nice lady who flirted with me at the bar, but it turned out that she was a professional.
- A reputation known by name.
- An expert.
- I have learned that there is a person attached to a golf club called a professional. Find out who fills that post at the Green Meadow Club; […] invite the professional, urgently, to dine with us this evening.1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, page 97
- One of four categories of sociologist propounded by Horowitz: a sociologist who is actively concerned with promoting the profession of sociology.
Adjective
professional (comparative more professional, superlative most professional)
- Of, pertaining to, or in accordance with the (usually high) standards of a profession.
- The doctor is very professional in his manner.
- You should get professional advice about your tax liability.
- Expert.
- Of an occupation, paid, especially so as to provide a livelihood.
- a professional musician, a professional footballer
- The little green men were clearly professional soldiers by their bearing, carried Russian weapons, and wore Russian combat fatigues, but they had no identifying insignia. Vladimir Putin originally denied they were Russian soldiers; that April, he confirmed they were.2019 March 18, Steven Pifer, Five years after Crimea’s illegal annexation, the issue is no closer to resolution, The Center for International Security and Cooperation
- Antonyms:
- amateur
- Engaging in persistent behaviour that is exaggeratedly implied to be a full-time, paid occupation.
- Don't listen to him, he's a professional bullshitter.
- As a professional optimist, I always look on the bright side.
professional meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
professional in Hindi
- a professional, master
- पेशेवर peśevar
- professional, skilled, expert
- पेशेवर peśevar
professional in Tamil
- நெறிவு, நெறிவாக, தொழில் நெறிஞர்
professional in Marathi
- व्यावसायिक
professional in Urdu
- professional, workman, tradesman
- پیشہ ور peša-war
More languagesFewer languages
- professional in Bengali
- পেশাদার ব্যক্তি, পেশাদারী, বৃত্তিমূলক
- professional in Telugu
- ప్రొఫెషనల్, వృత్తిపరమైన
- professional in Malayalam
- ഉദ്യോഗസംബന്ധമായ, തൊഴിൽപരമായ, തൊഴിലാളി
- professional in Kannada
- ಕಸುಬುದಾರ, ವೃತ್ತಿನಿರತ, ವೃತ್ತಿಗ, ಕುಶಲ
- professional in Punjabi
- ਪੇਸ਼ੇਵਰ, ਪੇਸ਼ਾਵਰ
- professional in Gujarati
- વ્યાવસાયિક, વ્યવસાયિક
- professional in Odia
- ପେସାଦାର, ବୃତ୍ତିଗତ, ପେଶାଦାର
- professional in Nepali
- व्यावसायिक, पेशेवर
- professional in Tagalog
- manunungkulan, propesyonál
- professional in Arabic
- مُحْتَرِف muḥtarif, مُحْتَرِفَة muḥtarifa
- professional in Malay
- profesional
- professional in Persian
- حرفهای herfe-'i
- professional in Thai
- มืออาชีพ mʉʉ-aa-chîip
- professional in Vietnamese
- chuyên nghiệp, chuyên gia
Examples of professional in a sentence
- The woman guarding us looks like a professional, but I can take her!
- You'll need to correct your posture if you're going to be a professional dancer.
- Ma’am, you are exactly the professional we want for this job.
Antonyms of professional
Forms of professional
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | professionals |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more professional |
| superlative | most professional |
Origin of professional
From Middle English professhennalle, professhynalle; equivalent to profession + -al.
Words formed from professional
- antiprofessional
- biprofessional
- certified safety professional
- extraprofessional
- interprofessional
- intraprofessional
- legal professional privilege
- monoprofessional
- multiprofessional
- non-professional
- nonprofessional
- paraprofessional
- preprofessional
- profersonal
- professional class
- professional deformation
- professional engineer
- professionalese
- professional foul
- professionalisation
- professionalish
- professionalism
- professionalist
- professionality
- professionalize
- professionally
- professionalness
- professional politician
- professional rescuers doctrine
- professional secrecy
- professional service
- professionalship
- professional sport
- professional student
- professional suicide
- professional support lawyer
- professional university
- professional victim
- professional wrestler
- professional wrestling
- promag
- promateur
- prosumer
- pseudo-professional
- pseudoprofessional
- semi-professional
- semiprofessional
- socioprofessional
- subprofessional
- super professional
- super-professional
- superprofessional
- transprofessional
- ultraprofessional
- uniprofessional
- unprofessional
Phrases with professional
- professional fouls
- professional sports
- professional classes
- professional victims
- professional services
- professional students
- professional engineers
- professional wrestlers
- health care professional
- professional politicians
- professional deformations
- professional universities
2 more phrasesFewer phrases
Questions about professional
- What does professional mean?
- Professional means a person who belongs to a profession.
- What is professional in Hindi?
- Professional in Hindi is पेशेवर (peśevar). See Professional meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is professional?
- Professional can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce professional?
- Professional is pronounced /pɹəˈfɛʃ.ə.nəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of professional?
- The plural of professional is professionals.
Words near professional in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: professional (page history and authors); पेशेवर (Hindi) (page history and authors); professional (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); professional (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); پیشہ ور (Urdu) (page history and authors); professional (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); professional (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); professional (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); professional (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); professional (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); professional (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); professional (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); professional (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-professional.ogg.
Cite this entry: “professional.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/professional. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.