profess (verb)

practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be knowledgeable about

"She professes organic chemistry"

profess (verb)

confess one's faith in, or allegiance to

"The terrorists professed allegiance to their country"; "he professes to be a Communist"

concede, profess, confess (verb)

admit (to a wrongdoing)

"She confessed that she had taken the money"

profess (verb)

state freely

"The teacher professed that he was not generous when it came to giving good grades"

profess (verb)

receive into a religious order or congregation

profess (verb)

take vows, as in religious order

"she professed herself as a nun"

profess, pretend (verb)

state insincerely

"He professed innocence but later admitted his guilt"; "She pretended not to have known the suicide bomber"; "She pretends to be an expert on wine"

profess (Verb)

To administer the vows of a religious order to (someone); to admit to a religious order. (Chiefly in passive.)

profess (Verb)

To declare oneself (to be something).

profess (Verb)

To declare; to assert, affirm.

profess (Verb)

To make a claim (to be something), to lay claim to (a given quality, feeling etc.), often with connotations of insincerity.

profess (Verb)

To declare one's adherence to (a religion, deity, principle etc.).

profess (Verb)

To work as a professor of; to teach.

profess (Verb)

To claim to have knowledge or understanding of (a given area of interest, subject matter).