professor

noun pro·fes·sor \ prə-ˈfe-sər \

Updated on: 20 Apr 2018

Definition of professor

1 : one that professes, avows, or declares

2 a : a faculty member of the highest academic rank at an institution of higher education

b : a teacher at a university, college, or sometimes secondary school

c : one that teaches or professes special knowledge of an art, sport, or occupation requiring skill

—

professorial

play \ˌprō-fə-ˈsȯr-ē-əl, ˌprä-\ adjective

—

professorially

play \-ē-ə-lē\ adverb

—

professorship

play \prə-ˈfe-sər-ˌship\ noun

See professor defined for English-language learners

See professor defined for kids

Examples of professor in a Sentence

Professor Williams will be teaching the class.

Recent Examples of professor from the Web

That's part of the reason why the government decided to remove the citizenship questions in 1960, said Margo Anderson, a leading census historian and a history and urban studies professor at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

— NBC News, "Trump wants to ask about citizenship on the census. Here's why the U.S. stopped in 1960.," 17 Apr. 2018
One of a handful of professors at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta with the remit to improve gender equity, Cobb has campaigned for more women to be considered for all manner of professional awards.

— jeffrey mervis, Science | AAAS, "Olson is first psychologist to win NSF’s Waterman award," 17 Apr. 2018
Paul Helmke, the former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne and a professor at Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs, said running with Trump is probably a good strategy for a primary campaign.

— maureen groppe, Indianapolis Star, "Indiana's Republican candidates for U.S. Senate compete to be most like President Trump," 17 Apr. 2018
Among them are Mel Slater, a computer scientist and Distinguished Investigator in the psychology department at the University of Barcelona, and Mavi Sanchez-Vives, a neuroscientist and research professor at the IDIBAPS Biomedical Research Institute.

— elizabeth bernstein, WSJ, "The Future of Therapy: Becoming Someone Else in VR," 16 Apr. 2018
One of those cognitive scientists spoke on the Tuesday panel: Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia who writes about the science behind reading comprehension.

— natalie wexler, The Atlantic, "Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years," 13 Apr. 2018
Thirteen guests are believed to have attended the Last Supper, the night before Jesus was killed, according to Stuart Vyse, a psychology professor at Connecticut College.

— the enquirer, Cincinnati.com, "Friday the 13th: Why is it scary?," 13 Apr. 2018
One of the pictures reportedly showed him next to the acclaimed professor.

— erica gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, "Brad Pitt Has Reportedly Been "Quietly Dating" MIT Professor Neri Oxman Since Last Fall," 11 Apr. 2018
Dominic Tierney, a professor at Swarthmore College and the author of multiple books about how America wages war, may know the reason why.

— alex ward, Vox, "Why America doesn’t win wars anymore," 9 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'professor.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.