Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb profess

7 senses of profess

Sense 1
profess -- (practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be knowledgeable about; "She professes organic chemistry")
       => claim -- (assert or affirm strongly; state to be true or existing; "He claimed that he killed the burglar")

Sense 2
profess -- (confess one's faith in, or allegiance to; "The terrorists professed allegiance to their country"; "he professes to be a Communist")
       => declare -- (state emphatically and authoritatively; "He declared that he needed more money to carry out the task he was charged with")

Sense 3
concede, profess, confess -- (admit (to a wrongdoing); "She confessed that she had taken the money")
       => admit, acknowledge -- (declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of; "He admitted his errors"; "She acknowledged that she might have forgotten")

Sense 4
profess -- (state freely; "The teacher professed that he was not generous when it came to giving good grades")
       => declare -- (state emphatically and authoritatively; "He declared that he needed more money to carry out the task he was charged with")

Sense 5
profess -- (receive into a religious order or congregation)
       => accept, admit, take, take on -- (admit into a group or community; "accept students for graduate study"; "We'll have to vote on whether or not to admit a new member")

Sense 6
profess -- (take vows, as in religious order; "she professed herself as a nun")
       => vow -- (make a vow; promise; "He vowed never to drink alcohol again")

Sense 7
profess, pretend -- (state insincerely; "He professed innocence but later admitted his guilt"; "She pretended not to have known the suicide bomber"; "She pretends to be an expert on wine")
       => claim -- (assert or affirm strongly; state to be true or existing; "He claimed that he killed the burglar")