What does profession mean?
Profession most commonly means an occupation that requires specialized knowledge, training, or formal qualifications. It often suggests more than simply having paid work: medicine, law, teaching, and journalism are professions in which people apply recognized expertise and are expected to meet professional standards. The word can refer either to an individual occupation or to a field collectively, as in the legal profession or the medical profession. It also has a formal older sense meaning an open declaration, especially a profession of faith or allegiance. In modern usage, profession generally carries positive or neutral connotations of skill, responsibility, and status, although context can affect its tone. Compared with occupation, profession tends to emphasize a calling or vocation and the training associated with it, while job is broader and more informal. Understanding both meanings helps explain expressions in which someone makes a profession of loyalty, sincerity, or belief.
An occupation or vocation requiring specialized knowledge, training, or qualification; also, a formal declaration of belief or allegiance.
"The profession of medicine demands years of study and a continuing commitment to patient care."
The collective sense, referring to a field and its practitioners, is common in expressions such as the medical profession and the legal profession.
To profess or state openly, especially a belief or commitment.
"In such formal contexts, they professioned their allegiance to the crown."
This is a rare and archaic verb form; modern speakers normally use profess.
The standard plural of profession, used for different occupations or professions.
"She has worked in several professions, from journalism to public relations."
Profession once meant a public declaration; only later did it come to denote the work by which people make their living.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does profession come from?
Profession comes through Old French from Latin professio, meaning a declaration or avowal, which was derived from professus, a form of the verb profari, meaning to declare or avow. The Latin verb combined pro-, meaning forward or openly, with fari, meaning to speak. Its original sense concerned an open declaration, especially of faith, before the word developed the related occupational meaning associated with a professed calling or vocation. Its cognates include profess, professor, and professional.
Related word forms
How profession is actually used
In its occupational sense, profession often suggests a vocation requiring formal training or recognized qualifications, and it can carry connotations of status, expertise, and service. It may also refer collectively to the people in a field, as in the medical profession. The declaration-related sense is more formal and literary. The verb is rare and archaic.
Easily confused with profession
A profession is an occupation or field of work, while a professional is a person who practices one or an adjective describing someone skilled in a profession.