MEANING
1. To make the vows by which one enters or advances in membership of a religious order.
2. To state openly that one holds a belief, feeling, quality, or ability.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- profess religious vows
- be professed in an order
On the page
She professed her vows before the assembled community.
He was professed in the order years before the archive recorded his name.
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- profess
- Past tense
- professed
- Past participle
- professed
- Present participle
- professing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- profess
- Present continuous
- am/is/are professing
- Present perfect
- have/has professed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been professing
- Past
- professed
- Past continuous
- was/were professing
- Past perfect
- had professed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been professing
- Future
- will profess
- Future continuous
- will be professing
- Future perfect
- will have professed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been professing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. Forms: profess; professes; professed; professed; professing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: professes.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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