profess

verb

prə-ˈfes How to pronounce profess (audio)
Definition of professnext
1
as in to pretend
to present a false appearance of professed friendship while secretly plotting revenge

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in to declare
to state clearly and strongly the lonely woman professed her love in a series of letters to the soldier

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to insist
to state as a fact usually forcefully he professed his innocence to anyone who would listen

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of profess Millions of votes are not yet cast, and anyone professing to know exactly what's going to happen is lying. — Domenico Montanaro, NPR, 13 Oct. 2026 But Israeli commentators also professed shock, if not surprise, Sunday at how closely aligned the journalist and spin doctor appeared to be. — Ben Smith, semafor.com, 12 Oct. 2026 Edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson was one of several Commanders to enjoy a proper English tea time, while QB1 Jayden Daniels professed his support for Chelsea. — Elise Devlin, New York Times, 5 Oct. 2026 With this time-shaping device called the Chronovisor, Father Pellegrino Ernetti professed to have seen footage of the crucified Christ and even enjoyed a lost play staged by an ancient Roman dramatist. — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 2 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for profess
Recent Examples of Synonyms for profess
  1. pretend
  2. declare
  3. insist
  4. assume
  5. assert
  6. allege
  7. simulate
  8. proclaim
Verb
  • The New York governor signed two bills this morning barring companies from offering some AI chatbot features to users under 18—like pretending to be a real person or to have human emotions, or people-pleasing as a way to keep users engaged.
    — Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Everyone is pretending all the time, no one can ever be themselves, and so each of us, in our own way, is sealed inside something that doesn’t exist and that, deep down, makes no apparent sense whatsoever.
    — J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of pretend
Verb
  • But the National Electoral Council, which is stacked with ruling-party loyalists, declared Maduro the winner.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 Oct. 2026
  • But the National Electoral Council, which is stacked with ruling party loyalists, declared Maduro the winner.
    — Regina Garcia Cano, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of declare
Verb
  • The administration insists its strategy of inflicting economic pain is working.
    — Lauren Morganbesser, semafor.com, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Putin has long insisted that Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Russia has tried — and failed — to fully capture over more than four years of war have always been Russian.
    — Catherine Belton, Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of insist
Verb
  • Figures assume a married, two-earner couple with one child earning $99,999 and are not adjusted for inflation.
    — Martie Bowser, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Walczak’s estimates assume local governments raise tax rates enough to fully replace the lost revenue, based on state property records for every parcel in Florida.
    — Max Klaver, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of assume
Verb
  • The others asserted vested development rights and reliance on county representations, leaving only the comprehensive plan challenge, which asserted that commissioners wrongly rejected housing that complied with the county’s growth policies.
    — Sarah Kinbar, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Then in June, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a memo asserting that Section 504 and the ADA don’t actually mandate that states support disabled people to remain integrated in their communities.
    — Rebekah Taussig, Time, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of assert
Verb
  • Walter also is a defendant in multiple civil lawsuits filed by investors alleging fraud and breach of contract.
    — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2026
  • The Justice Department this month received a federal judge's permission to intervene in the case, alleging that the city’s actions violate the Equal Protection Cause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Fair Housing Act.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of allege
Verb
  • This testing simulated the extreme temperatures, shaking and even the sounds that the spacecraft will experience from launch to landing.
    — Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The third stage, Jalan said, uses digital twins that simulate scenarios across more variables than a human team can work through, producing action plans in hours rather than weeks.
    — Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of simulate
Verb
  • Newsom recently proclaimed a state of emergency in September due to the El Niño, which some forecasters predict could be the strongest on record.
    — Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2026
  • After the election, armchair pundits and paid professionals proclaimed that Ronald Reagan had been right all along.
    — Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of proclaim

Browse Nearby Words

profanity
profess
professed
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Profess.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/profess. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of reticent

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All