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

To wrest control from Republicans, Brown asked the professorial Sher to challenge one Republican’s right to remain in the Assembly. — Dan Morain, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026

He was sometimes criticized by progressive Democrats as being too professorial and by conservatives as being too progressive. — Tracy Grant, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Aug. 2026

Her account there is excessive and loose, a counterweight to her essays and memoirs, which can seem opaque and professorial. — Emma Alpern, Vulture, 17 June 2026

Masud Husain is a professor of neurology and cognitive neuroscience at the University of Oxford and a professorial fellow at New College, Oxford. — Big Think, 14 Apr. 2026

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