professorial

adjective

ˌprō-fə-ˈsȯr-ē-əl 

ˌprä-

: of, relating to, characteristic of, or resembling a professor

professorial duties

professorial authority

a calm, professorial manner

Johnson was professorial in his approach to the game. He could talk for hours on the nuances of the Czechoslovak national team's power play.

—E. M. Swift

professorially

ˌprō-fə-ˈsȯr-ē-ə-lē 

ˌprä-

adverb

… a tall man with professorially thick glasses and graying, tangled hair …

—John Seabrook

Examples of professorial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noticeably out of place with his full head of gray hair, rectangular glasses and professorial demeanor, Kennedy wandered among the crowd of cops and deputies, eyes peeled for suspicious ink. —Keri Blakinger, Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2025

His tone can be professorial with occasional flashes of bone-dry humor. —Matina Stevis-Gridneff, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2025

His conversational style in interviews is pensive and soft-spoken, almost professorial, which hooked up to the note of insistence just underneath the angel-cake vocal beauty. —Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 14 Mar. 2025

After leaving her professorial position, Darcy started sharing free, educational content on OnlyFans and YouTube. —Zoey Lyttle, People.com, 13 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1713, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for professorial

• arboreal
• armorial
• authorial
• factorial
• manorial
• memorial
• pictorial
• sartorial
• sectorial
• tutorial
• vectorial
• ambassadorial