FluentPlex

profess

/pɹəˈfɛs/ verb C1
  1. To administer the vows of a religious order to (someone); to admit to a religious order. (transitive)
  2. To declare oneself (to be something). · They've professed themselves delighted with the results.
  3. To declare; to assert, affirm. · Having professed her belief in the remedy, she had little choice but to try it.
  4. To make a claim (to be something); to lay claim to (a given quality, feeling etc.), often with connotations of insincerity. (transitive) · Many profess to despise what secretly they hunger after.
  5. To declare one's adherence to (a religion, deity, principle etc.). (transitive)
  6. To work as a professor of; to teach. (transitive)

He/she/it professes · Past professed · Past participle professed · -ing form professing

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Verb forms

Base form
profess
He/she/it
professes
Past
professed
Past participle
professed
-ing form
professing

From the library

“I don’t profess to know the meaning of it,” said Cecil Barker; “but I have seen the mark on Douglas many times this last ten years.”
The Valley of Fear, p. 32 · C1
“I can’t profess to say what it means,” he answered.
The Valley of Fear, p. 55 · C1
Bingley was everything that was charming, except the professed lover of her daughter.
Pride and Prejudice, p. 325 · B2
“Then you profess ignorance of the crime with which you are charged?”
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 160 · C1

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Words, meanings, pronunciations and translations from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); how common each word is from wordfreq. Made into this dictionary by FluentPlex.