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profession

1. The act of professing or claiming; open declaration; public avowal or acknowledgment; as, professions of friendship; a profession of faith. A solemn vow, promise, and profession. (bk. Of Com. Prayer)

2. That which one professed; a declaration; an avowal; a claim; as, his professions are insincere. The indians quickly perceive the coincidence or the contradiction between professions and conduct. (J. Morse)

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. Hi tried five or six professions in turn. (Macaulay)

The three professions, or learned professions, are, especially, theology, law, and medicine.

4. The collective body of persons engaged in a calling; as, the profession distrust him.

5. The act of entering, or becoming a member of, a religious order.

Origin: F, fr. L. Professio. See Profess.