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

In academia, Soyinka has held professorial and visiting positions at universities around the world. —Billal Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Oct. 2025

George’s only hope of hanging onto the ridiculously extravagant life he’s pitched to Hedda is securing a professorial position at the local university. —Abby Monteil, Them., 28 Oct. 2025

Advertisement To be clear, academic freedom is too often seen as a narrow prerogative of the professorial class. —Nicholas Dirks, Time, 16 Oct. 2025

The voice turned more professorial, clinical. —Jon Michael Varese, The Atlantic, 28 Sep. 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