PROFESSIONAL
Dictionary entry overview: What does professional mean?
• PROFESSIONAL (noun)
The noun PROFESSIONAL has 3 senses:
1. a person engaged in one of the learned professions
2. an athlete who plays for pay
3. an authority qualified to teach apprentices
Familiarity information: PROFESSIONAL used as a noun is uncommon.
• PROFESSIONAL (adjective)
The adjective PROFESSIONAL has 5 senses:
1. engaged in a profession or engaging in as a profession or means of livelihood
2. of or relating to or suitable as a profession
3. characteristic of or befitting a profession or one engaged in a profession
4. of or relating to a profession
5. engaged in by members of a profession
Familiarity information: PROFESSIONAL used as an adjective is common.
Dictionary entry details
• PROFESSIONAL (noun)
Meaning:
A person engaged in one of the learned professions
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
professional; professional person
Hypernyms ("professional" is a kind of...):
adult; grownup (a fully developed person from maturity onward)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "professional"):
yuppie (a young upwardly mobile professional person; someone under 40 who prospered during the 1980s)
publisher (a person engaged in publishing periodicals or books or music)
practician; practitioner (someone who practices a learned profession)
bibliothec; librarian (a professional person trained in library science and engaged in library services)
attorney; lawyer (a professional person authorized to practice law; conducts lawsuits or gives legal advice)
caregiver; health care provider; health professional (a person who helps in identifying or preventing or treating illness or disability)
educator; pedagog; pedagogue (someone who educates young people)
critic (a person who is professionally engaged in the analysis and interpretation of works of art)
craftsman (a professional whose work is consistently of high quality)
careerist (a professional who is intent on furthering his or her career by any possible means and often at the expense of their own integrity)
Holonyms ("professional" is a member of...):
professional organisation; professional organization (an organization of and for professional people)
Meaning:
An athlete who plays for pay
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
pro; professional
Hypernyms ("professional" is a kind of...):
athlete; jock (a person trained to compete in sports)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "professional"):
free agent ((sports) a professional athlete who is free to sign a contract to play for any team)
semipro; semiprofessional (an athlete who plays for pay on a part-time basis)
Antonym:
amateur (does not play for pay)
Meaning:
An authority qualified to teach apprentices
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
professional; master
Hypernyms ("professional" is a kind of...):
authority (an expert whose views are taken as definitive)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "professional"):
past master (someone who was formerly a master)
• PROFESSIONAL (adjective)
Meaning:
Engaged in a profession or engaging in as a profession or means of livelihood
Context examples:
the professional man or woman possesses distinctive qualifications / began her professional career after the Olympics / professional theater / professional football / a professional cook / professional actors and athletes
Similar:
nonrecreational; paid (involving gainful employment in something often done as a hobby)
professed (professing to be qualified)
Antonym:
nonprofessional (not professional; not engaged in a profession or engaging in as a profession or for gain)
Meaning:
Of or relating to or suitable as a profession
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Context examples:
professional organizations / a professional field such as law
Pertainym:
profession (the body of people in a learned occupation)
Meaning:
Characteristic of or befitting a profession or one engaged in a profession
Context examples:
professional conduct / professional ethics / a thoroughly professional performance
Antonym:
unprofessional (not characteristic of or befitting a profession or one engaged in a profession)
Meaning:
Of or relating to a profession
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Context examples:
we need professional advice / professional training / professional equipment for his new office
Pertainym:
profession (an occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences))
Meaning:
Engaged in by members of a profession
Context example:
professional occupations include medicine and the law and teaching
Similar:
white-collar (of or designating salaried professional or clerical work or workers)
