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
E. M. Swift
professorially
ˌprō-fə-ˈsȯr-ē-ə-lē
adverb
ˌprä-
… a tall man with professorially thick glasses and graying, tangled hair …
—John Seabrook
John Seabrook
Examples of professorial in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That professorial spirit is one of the reasons the Steelers signed Peterson to a two-year deal last spring.
—Will Graves, USA TODAY, 3 Jan. 2024
Ball of Fire features Stanwyck as a savvy nightclub singer hiding out with stuffy academic Cooper and his endearing crop of professorial colleagues.
—Gwen Ihnat, EW.com, 16 Nov. 2023
But Kissinger approved, implemented, and, in professorial media turns, publicized it.
—Christian Schneider, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023
Effortlessly, unabashedly learned; tender beneath its professorial carapace; vaguely excessive.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 14 Dec. 2023
The money will be used to establish a professorial chair and research team that will study mental health disorders such as bipolar disease.
—Rana Wehbe Watson, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023
The words rush out, not in sentences, or even paragraphs, but as scrolling pages of oration, in which Scorsese expounds on history — cinematic, American, his own — with passion, professorial depth and a tempo set at Tommy gun.
—Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2023
Swift has officially entered her Autumn in New York era, wearing a simple black slip dress, boots, and a rather professorial tweed fall coat.
—Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 19 Sep. 2023
Kilicdaroglu has assumed a professorial air in explaining his economic plans — another attempt to contrast his qualifications with those of Erdogan, whose unorthodox economic views are widely blamed for driving double-digit inflation.
—Kareem Fahim, Washington Post, 7 May 2023
Will Graves, USA TODAY, 3 Jan. 2024
Ball of Fire features Stanwyck as a savvy nightclub singer hiding out with stuffy academic Cooper and his endearing crop of professorial colleagues.
—Gwen Ihnat, EW.com, 16 Nov. 2023
But Kissinger approved, implemented, and, in professorial media turns, publicized it.
—Christian Schneider, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023
Effortlessly, unabashedly learned; tender beneath its professorial carapace; vaguely excessive.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 14 Dec. 2023
The money will be used to establish a professorial chair and research team that will study mental health disorders such as bipolar disease.
—Rana Wehbe Watson, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023
The words rush out, not in sentences, or even paragraphs, but as scrolling pages of oration, in which Scorsese expounds on history — cinematic, American, his own — with passion, professorial depth and a tempo set at Tommy gun.
—Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2023
Swift has officially entered her Autumn in New York era, wearing a simple black slip dress, boots, and a rather professorial tweed fall coat.
—Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 19 Sep. 2023
Kilicdaroglu has assumed a professorial air in explaining his economic plans — another attempt to contrast his qualifications with those of Erdogan, whose unorthodox economic views are widely blamed for driving double-digit inflation.
—Kareem Fahim, Washington Post, 7 May 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'professorial.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near professorial
Cite this Entry
“Professorial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/professorial. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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