From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Profession \Pro*fes"sion\, noun [F., fr. L. professio. See {Profess}, v.]
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.
Note: 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. (Eccl. Law.) The act of entering, or becoming a member of, a religious order.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: the body of people in a learned occupation; "the news spread rapidly through the medical community" [syn: {community}]
2: an occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences)
3: an open avowal (true or false) of some belief or opinion; "a profession of disagreement" [syn: {professing}]
4: affirmation of acceptance of some religion or faith; "a profession of Christianity"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
96 Moby Thesaurus words for "profession": acceptance, acknowledgment, admission, affidavit, affirmance, affirmation, allegation, allowance, announcement, annunciation, appreciation, art, assertion, asseveration, attest, attestation, averment, avouchment, avowal, business, calling, career, career building, careerism, claim, compurgation, concession, conclusion, confession, confession of faith, craft, creed, declaration, declaration of faith, deposition, dictum, disclosure, employment, enunciation, field, game, handicraft, instrument in proof, ipse dixit, job, legal evidence, lifework, line, line of business, line of work, manifesto, metier, mission, mystery, number, occupation, position, position paper, positive declaration, post, practice, predicate, predication, proclamation, pronouncement, proposition, protest, protestation, pursuit, racket, recognition, say, say-so, saying, situation, specialization, specialty, sphere, stance, stand, statement, sworn evidence, sworn statement, sworn testimony, testimonial, testimonium, testimony, trade, utterance, vocation, vouch, walk, walk of life, witness, word, work
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