The word means profession

A 19th century etching of a farmer consulting with his doctor, vicar and lawyer

A profession is a field of work that has been successfully professionalized.[1] It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by the public as possessing special knowledge and skills in a widely recognised body of learning derived from research, education and training at a high level, and who are prepared to apply this knowledge and exercise these skills in the interest of others.[2][3]

Professional occupations are founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested objective counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain.[4] Medieval and early modern tradition recognized only three professions: divinity, medicine, and law,[5][6] which were called the learned professions.[7] A profession is not a trade[8] and not an industry.[9]

Some professions change slightly in status and power, but their prestige generally remains stable over time, even if the profession begins to have more required study and formal education.[10] Disciplines formalized more recently, such as architecture, now have equally long periods of study associated with them.[11]

Although professions may enjoy relatively high status and public prestige, not all professionals earn high salaries, and even within specific professions there exist significant differences in salary. In law, for example, a corporate defense lawyer working on an hourly basis may earn several times what a prosecutor or public defender earns.

Etymology[edit]

The term «profession» is a truncation of the term «liberal profession», which is, in turn, an Anglicization of the French term profession libérale. Originally borrowed by English users in the 19th century, it has been re-borrowed by international users from the late 20th, though the (upper-middle) class overtones of the term do not seem to survive re-translation: «liberal professions» are, according to the European Union’s Directive on Recognition of Professional Qualifications (2005/36/EC), «those practised on the basis of relevant professional qualifications in a personal, responsible and professionally independent capacity by those providing intellectual and conceptual services in the interest of the client and the public».
Under the European Commission, liberal professions are professions that require specialized training and that are regulated by «national governments or professional bodies».[12]

Formation[edit]

A profession arises through the process of professionalization when any trade or occupation transforms itself:

«… [through] the development of formal qualifications based upon education, apprenticeship, and examinations, the emergence of regulatory bodies with powers to admit and discipline members, and some degree of monopoly rights.[13]

Major milestones which may mark an occupation being identified as a profession include:[6]

  1. an occupation becomes a full-time occupation
  2. the establishment of a training school
  3. the establishment of a university school
  4. the establishment of a local association
  5. the establishment of a national association of professional ethics
  6. the establishment of state licensing laws

Applying these milestones to the historical sequence of development in the United States shows surveying achieving professional status first (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln all worked as land surveyors before entering politics[14][15][16]), followed by medicine, actuarial science, law, dentistry, civil engineering, logistics, architecture and accounting.[17]

With the rise of technology and occupational specialization in the 19th century, other bodies began to claim professional status: mechanical engineering, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, psychology, nursing, teaching, librarianship, optometry and social work, each of which could claim, using these milestones, to have become professions by 1900.[18]

Regulation[edit]

Originally, any regulation of the professions was self-regulation through bodies such as the College of Physicians or the Inns of Court. With the growing role of government, statutory bodies have increasingly taken on this role, their members being appointed either by the profession or (increasingly) by the government. Proposals for the introduction or enhancement of statutory regulation may be welcomed by a profession as protecting clients and enhancing its quality and reputation, or as restricting access to the profession and hence enabling higher fees to be charged. It may be resisted as limiting the members’ freedom to innovate or to practice as in their professional judgement they consider best.

An example was in 2008, when the British government proposed wide statutory regulation of psychologists. The inspiration for the change was a number of problems in the psychotherapy field, but there are various kinds of psychologists including many who have no clinical role, and where the case for regulation was not so clear. Work psychology brought especial disagreement, with the British Psychological Society favoring statutory regulation of «occupational psychologists» and the Association of Business Psychologists resisting the statutory regulation of «business psychologists» – descriptions of professional activity which it may not be easy to distinguish.

Besides regulating access to a profession, professional bodies may set examinations of competence and enforce adherence to an ethical code. There may be several such bodies for one profession in a single country, an example being the accountancy bodies of the United Kingdom (ACCA, CAI, CIMA, CIPFA, ICAEW and ICAS), all of which have been given a Royal Charter, although their members are not necessarily considered to hold equivalent qualifications, and which operate alongside further bodies (AAPA, IFA, CPAA). Another example of a regulatory body that governs a profession is the Hong Kong Professional Teachers Union, which governs the conduct, rights, obligations, and duties of salaried teachers working in educational institutions in Hong Kong.

The engineering profession is highly regulated in some countries (Canada and the United States) with a strict licensing system for Professional Engineer that controls the practice but not in others (UK) where titles and qualifications are regulated Chartered Engineer but the practice is not regulated.

Typically, individuals are required by law to be qualified by a local professional body before they are permitted to practice in that profession. However, in some countries, individuals may not be required by law to be qualified by such a professional body in order to practice, as is the case for accountancy in the United Kingdom (except for auditing and insolvency work which legally require qualification by a professional body). In such cases, qualification by the professional bodies is effectively still considered a prerequisite to practice as most employers and clients stipulate that the individual hold such qualifications before hiring their services. For example, in order to become a fully qualified teaching professional in Hong Kong working in a state or government-funded school, one needs to have successfully completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Education («PGDE») or a bachelor’s degree in Education («BEd») at an approved tertiary educational institution or university. This requirement is set out by the Educational Department Bureau of Hong Kong, which is the governmental department that governs the Hong Kong education sector.

Autonomy[edit]

Professions tend to be autonomous, which means they have a high degree of control of their own affairs: «professionals are autonomous insofar as they can make independent judgments about their work».[19] This usually means «the freedom to exercise their professional judgement.»[20]

However, it also has other meanings. «Professional autonomy is often described as a claim of professionals that has to serve primarily their own interests…this professional autonomy can only be maintained if members of the profession subject their activities and decisions to a critical evaluation by other members of the profession.»[21] The concept of autonomy can therefore be seen to embrace not only judgement, but also self-interest and a continuous process of critical evaluation of ethics and procedures from within the profession itself.

One major implication of professional autonomy is the traditional ban on corporate practice of the professions, especially accounting, architecture, medicine, and law. This means that in many jurisdictions, these professionals cannot do business through regular for-profit corporations and raise capital rapidly through initial public offerings or flotations. Instead, if they wish to practice collectively they must form special business entities such as partnerships or professional corporations, which feature (1) reduced protection against liability for professional negligence and (2) severe limitations or outright prohibitions on ownership by non-professionals. The obvious implication of this is that all equity owners of the professional business entity must be professionals themselves. This avoids the possibility of a non-professional owner of the firm telling a professional how to do his or her job and thereby protects professional autonomy. The idea is that the only non-professional person who should be telling the professional what to do is the client; in other words, professional autonomy preserves the integrity of the two-party professional-client relationship. Above this client-professional relationship the profession requires the professional to use their autonomy to follow the rules of ethics that the profession requires. But because professional business entities are effectively locked out of the stock market, they tend to grow relatively slowly compared to public corporations.

Status, prestige, and power[edit]

Professions tend to have a high social status, regarded by society as highly important.[22] This high esteem arises primarily from the higher social function of their work. The typical profession involves technical, specialized, and highly skilled work. This skill and experience is often referred to as «professional expertise.» In the modern era, training for a profession involves obtaining degrees and certifications. Often, entry to the profession is barred without licensure. Learning new skills that are required as a profession evolves is called continuing education. Standards are set by states and associations. Leading professionals tend to police and protect their area of expertise and monitor the conduct of their fellow professionals through associations, national or otherwise. Professionals often exercise a dominating influence over related trades, setting guidelines and standards.[23] Socially powerful professionals consolidate their power in organizations for specific goals. Working together, they can reduce bureaucratic entanglements and increase a profession’s adaptability to the changing conditions of the world.[24]

Sociology[edit]

Émile Durkheim argued that professions created a stable society by providing structure separate from the state and the military that was less inclined to create authoritarianism or anomie and could create altruism and encourage social responsibility and altruism. This functionalist perspective was extended by Parsons who considered how the function of a profession could change in responses to changes in society.[25]: 17 

Esther Lucile Brown, an anthropologist, studied various professions starting the 1930s while working with Ralph Hurlin at the Russell Sage Foundation. She published Social Work as a Profession in 1935, and following this publications studying the work of engineers, nurses, medical physicians and lawyers. In 1944, the Department of Studies in the Professions was created at the Russell Sage Foundation with Brown as its head.[26]: 183 

Theories based on conflict theories following Marx and Weber consider how professions can act in the interest of their own group to secure social and financial benefits were espoused by Johnson (Professions and Powers, 1972) and Larson (The Rise of Professionalism, 1977). One way that a profession can derive financial benefits is limiting the supply of services.[25]: 18 

Theories based on discourse, following Mead and applying ideas of Sartre and Heidegger look at how the individual’s understanding of reality influence the role of professions. These viewpoints were espoused by Berger and Luckmann (The Social Construction of Reality, 1966).[25]: 19 

System of professions[edit]

Andrew Abbott constructed a sociological model of professions in his book The System of Professions. Abbott views professions as having jurisdiction over the right to carry out tasks with different possession vying for control of jurisdiction over tasks.[27]

A profession often possesses an expert knowledge system which is distinct from the profession itself. This abstract system is often not of direct practical use but is rather optimized for logical consistency and rationality, and to some degree acts to increase the status of the entire profession. One profession may seek control of another profession’s jurisdiction by challenging it at this academic level. Abbott argues that in the 1920s the psychiatric profession tried to challenge the legal profession for control over society’s response to criminal behavior. Abbott argues the formalization of a profession often serves to make a jurisdiction easier or harder to protect from other jurisdictions: general principles making it harder for other professions to gain jurisdiction over one area, clear boundaries preventing encroachment, fuzzy boundaries making it easier for one profession to take jurisdiction over other tasks.

Professions may expand their jurisdiction by other means. Lay education on the part of professions as in part an attempt to expand jurisdiction by imposing a particular understanding on the world (one in which the profession has expertise). He terms this sort of jurisdiction public jurisdiction. Legal jurisdiction is a monopoly created by the state legislation, as applies to law in many nations.

Characteristics[edit]

There is considerable agreement about defining the characteristic features of a profession. They have a «professional association, cognitive base, institutionalized training, licensing, work autonomy, colleague control… (and) code of ethics»,[28] to which Larson then also adds, «high standards of professional and intellectual excellence,» (Larson, p. 221) that «professions are occupations with special power and prestige», (Larson, p.x) and that they comprise «an exclusive elite group,» (Larson, p. 20) in all societies. Members of a profession have also been defined as «workers whose qualities of detachment, autonomy, and group allegiance are more extensive than those found among other groups…their attributes include a high degree of systematic knowledge; strong community orientation and loyalty; self-regulation; and a system of rewards defined and administered by the community of workers.»[29]

A profession has been further defined as: «a special type of occupation…(possessing) corporate solidarity…prolonged specialized training in a body of abstract knowledge, and a collectivity or service orientation…a vocational sub-culture which comprises implicit codes of behavior, generates an esprit de corps among members of the same profession, and ensures them certain occupational advantages…(also) bureaucratic structures and monopolistic privileges to perform certain types of work…professional literature, legislation, etc.»[30]

A critical characteristic of a profession is the need to cultivate and exercise professional discretion — that is, the ability to make case by case judgements that cannot be determined by an absolute rule or instruction.[31]

See also[edit]

  • Anticipatory socialization
  • Professional
  • First professional degree
  • Professional association (or body)
  • Professional boundaries
  • Professional class
  • Professional degree
  • Professional development
  • Professional responsibility
  • Professional ethics
  • Professionalization
  • Semiprofession
  • Norwegian Centre for the Study of Professions
  • List of occupations

References[edit]

  1. ^ Perkin, Harold (2002). The Rise of Professional Society: England Since 1880 (2nd ed.). Routledge.
  2. ^ «What is a Profession». Australian Council of Professions 2003. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  3. ^ «What is a Profession». Professional Standards Council. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  4. ^ New Statesman, 21 April 1917, article by Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb quoted with approval at paragraph 123 of a report by the UK Competition Commission, dated 8 November 1977, entitled Architects Services (in Chapter 7).
  5. ^ Popat, Nitin. Introduction to Accounting. ISBN 9781329911642. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  6. ^ a b Perks, R.W.(1993): Accounting and Society. Chapman & Hall (London); ISBN 0-412-47330-5. p.2.
  7. ^ See for example:
    Fisher, Redwood, ed. (August 1846). «Statistics of the State of New-York». Fisher’s National Magazine and Industrial Record. 3 (3): 234. Retrieved 17 August 2013. […] the three learned professions of divinity, law, and medicine […]
  8. ^ John J Parker, «A Profession Not a Skilled Trade» (1955-1956) 8 South Carolina Law Quarterly 179 HeinOnline; Sommerlad, Harris-Short, Vaughan and Young (eds), The Futures of Legal Education and the Legal Profession, Bloomsbury, 2015, p 147; Richard Colman, «Medicine is a profession not a trade», British Medical Journal, 7 October 2001; A M Linz, «A profession, not a trade» (December 1990) New York State Dental Journal 56(10):16 PubMed; E. G. Eberle, «The practice of medicine held to be a profession and not a trade» (August 1939) 28 Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association 482 Wiley; Wendler, Tremml and Buecker (eds), Key Aspects of German Business Law: A Practical Manual, 2nd Ed, Springer, 2002, p 255; William F Ryan, «Methods of Achieving Professional Recognition» (1946) The American Engineer, vols 16-17, p 8 [1] [2].
  9. ^ (1961) 2 The Industrial and Labour Law Digest, 1926-1959, Annotated 668; Sharma and Goyal, Hospital Administration And Human Resource Management, 5th Ed, PHI Learning, p 445.
  10. ^ Fossum, John; Moore, Michael (December 1975). «The stability of longitudinal and cross-sectional occupational prestige rankings». Journal of Vocational Behavior. 7 (3): 305–311. doi:10.1016/0001-8791(75)90072-X – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  11. ^ Ideas and Beliefs in Architecture and Industrial design: How attitudes, orientations and underlying assumptions shape the built environment. Oslo School of Architecture and Design. ISBN 82-547-0174-1.
  12. ^ «Liberal professions – Growth – European Commission». Growth. 5 July 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  13. ^ Alan Bullock & Stephen Trombley, The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought, London: Harper-Collins, 1999, p.689.
  14. ^ Redmond, Edward. «Washington as Public Land Surveyor». Library of Congress. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  15. ^ Boehm, Jay (March 1998). «Surveying». Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  16. ^ «Lincoln’s New Salem 1830-1837». National Park Service. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  17. ^ Perks, p.3.
  18. ^ Buckley, J.W. & Buckley, M.H. (1974): The Accounting Profession. Melville, Los Angeles. Quoted by Perks, p.4.
  19. ^ Bayles, Michael D. Professional Ethics. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1981.
  20. ^ «The World Medical Association Declaration of Madrid on Professional Autonomy and Self-Regulation», 1987. Archived 5 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Revised in France in 2005, rescinded and archived in India in 2009, and rewritten and adopted in India in 2009 as «WMA Declaration of Madrid on Professionally-led Regulation» Archived 27 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ Hoogland, Jan; Jochemsen, Henk (2000). «Professional autonomy and the normative structure of medical practice». Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. 21 (5): 457–75. doi:10.1023/A:1009925423036. PMID 11142442. S2CID 10581304.
  22. ^ Tinsley, Ron; Hardy, James C. (2003). «Faculty pressures and professional self-esteem: Life in Texas teacher education». Essays in Education. 6.
  23. ^ Peter E. S. Freund and Meredith B. McGuire. Health, Illness, and the Social Body: A Critical Sociology, New Jersey, US: Prentice Hall, 1995, p.211.
  24. ^ Guy Benveniste (1987). Professionalizing the Organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.[page needed]
  25. ^ a b c Dent, Mike; Bourgeault, Ivy Lynn; Denis, Jean-Louis; Kuhlmann, Ellen (1 July 2016). The Routledge Companion to the Professions and Professionalism. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-69948-4.
  26. ^ Bloom, Samuel William; Bloom, Samuel W. (2002). The Word as Scalpel: A History of Medical Sociology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507232-7.
  27. ^ Abbott, Andrew (7 February 2014). The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-18966-6.
  28. ^ Magali Sarfatti Larson, The Rise of Professionalism: a Sociological Analysis, Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1978, p. 208
  29. ^ Joanne Brown, The Definition of a Profession: the Authority of Metaphor in the History of Intelligence Testing, 1890-1930, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992, p. 19
  30. ^ Turner, C.; Hodge, M. N. (1970). «Occupations and Professions». In Jackson, J. A. (ed.). Professions and Professionalization. Sociological Studies. pp. 19–50. ISBN 978-0-521-07982-2.
  31. ^ Coles, Colin (2002). «Developing professional judgment». Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions. 22 (1): 3–10. doi:10.1002/chp.1340220102. PMID 12004638.

Cruess, S. R., Johnston, S. & Cruess R. L. (2004). «Profession»: a working definition for medical educators. Teaching and learning in Medicine,16(1): 74–76.

Freidson, E. (1994). Professionalism reborn: Theory, prophecyand policy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Gailmard, S. & Patty, J. W. (2007). Slackers and zealots: Civil service, policy discretion, and bureaucratic expertise. American Journal of Political Science, 51(4), 873–889. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2007.00286.x

Gulick, L. (1937). Notes on the theory of organization. In J. Shafritz & A. Hyde (Eds.), Classics of public administration, eighth edition (pp. 105–114). Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning.

Howlett, M., McConnell, A., and Pearl, A. (2014). Streams and stages: Reconciling Kingdon and policy process theory. European Journal of Political Research, 54(3) 419–434. doi: 10.1111/1475-6765.12064

Lindblom, C. E. (1959). The science of «muddling through». In J. Shafritz and A. Hyde (Eds.), Classics of public administration, eighth edition, (pp. 172–182). Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning.

Niskanen, Jr. (1971). Bureaucracy and Representative Government. New York: Imprint Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315081878

Sinek, S. (2019). The Infinite Game. New York: Random House

Surowiecki, J. (2005). The wisdom of crowds. New York: Random House.

Taylor, F. W. (1912). The principles of scientific management. New York: Harper and Brothers.

Taylor, E. B. (1878). Researches into the early history of mankind and the development of civilization. Boston: Estes and Lauriat.

Further reading[edit]

  • Abbott, A. (1998). The theory of professions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
  • Brint, Steven. 1994. In an Age of Experts: The Changing Roles of Professionals in Politics and Public Life. Princeton University Press.
  • Penelope J. Corfield, Power and the Professions in Britain, 1700–1850, Routledge, London, 1995.
  • Yves Dezalay and David Sugarman, Professional Competition and Professional Power, Routledge, 1995, ISBN 0-203-97721-1.
  • Eliot Freidson, Professional Powers: A Study of the Institutionalization of Formal Knowledge, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986, ISBN 0-226-26225-1.
  • Joseph M. Jacob, Doctors and Rules: A Sociology of Professional Values, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick and London, 1999.
  • Montgomery, Jonathan (1989). «Medicine, Accountability, and Professionalism». Journal of Law and Society. 16 (3): 319–39. doi:10.2307/1409987. hdl:10822/833082. JSTOR 1409987.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term ‘profession’ refers to an occupation that entails the application of ‘professed’ knowledge of some field, subject or science.

Thus, two points are critical when it comes to defining ‘profession.’

  1. It comprises of skill or expertise in a particular field, subject or science.
  2. It entails the application of those skills. 

Accordingly, a profession requires an individual to undergo rigorous training and acquire formal education to become a part of it.

Besides, skill and application, the term ‘profession’ have an element of declaration or vow inherent in it as ‘profession’ also means an announcement of one’s belief in a religious order.

Consequently, an individual as a part of a profession is expected to follow some ethical standards concerning that field. 

Key Takeaways

  1. A profession is a type of occupation that requires specialized education, training, and skills to perform a specific job.
  2. A profession typically has a governing body that regulates standards and practices within the field.
  3. Examples of professions include doctors, lawyers, engineers, and accountants.

Origin and Evolution of the term ‘Profession.’

The term ‘Profession’ traces its origin in the Latin word ‘Profiteri‘ (old) and ‘Professio’ (new) meaning ‘declaring publicly’, primarily, something that is of great importance.

Interestingly, in those days, nothing was more important than religion as reflected from the fact that Webster’s Third New International Dictionary first described the term ‘profess’ as the act of taking religious oath publicly.

Eventually, as time passed, this narrow, specific and restricted meaning of the word ‘Profession’ expanded to incorporate a public declaration of non-religious ideas as well.

Accordingly, with the advent of modern times, as liberal-capitalist ideas started gaining more importance and eventually became the order of the day, the term ‘Profession’ acquired a more secular connotation.

Besides that, as specialisation became one of the main components of the liberal-capitalist system, the word ‘Profession’ began to be associated with expertise and skill.

This argument is further confirmed by the fact that during the 16th century-a peak time of the Renaissance period, the word ‘Profession’ was used for the first time to refer to occupations like medicine, law, theology and often military. These were considered as the field of the learned and elites.

Besides that, the term ‘Profession’ is a truncated version of the word ‘liberal profession’ which in turn has been Anglicised from the French word “profession libérale” in the 19th century.

‘Profession’ with its current classless (upper-middle) and predominantly economic connotation was adopted in the 20th century.

As of today, the term ‘Profession’ refers to any occupation practised by individuals with the relevant qualifications and skills to serve the interest of a client or the general public.

However, it is neither a trade nor an industry. It differs from both of these terms insofar as a code of ethics governs the individuals who are a part of it.

Milestones that transform an Occupation into a Profession

While all professions may involve an ‘occupation’, not all occupations are professions. Instead, a ‘profession’ is just one of the types of ‘occupation’. An ‘occupation’ to be called a ‘profession’ has to achieve the following significant breakthroughs:

  1.  Becoming a full-time vocation.
  2.  The founding of a training school.
  3. The origination of a university school.
  4. The setting up of a local association.
  5. The founding of a national association of professional ethics.
  6. The institution of state licensing laws.

Examples

The following are some significant examples of a profession:

  1. Scientist
  2. Architecture
  3. Information Technology
  4. Distributor
  5. Medicine, and many more.

Advantages of Profession

Some significant advantages of a profession include:

  1. It focuses on enhancing efficiency.
  2. It is based on specialisation and enhancement of skills.
  3. It is governed by a code of conduct and therefore, makes individuals responsible.

Disadvantages of Profession

The following are some principal disadvantages of a profession:

  1. With a strict code of conduct, a ‘profession’ sometimes encroaches upon an individual’s personal space.
  2. Too much adherence to professional conduct often increases the stress levels of individual members of a profession.

References

  1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23707630
  2. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ286271

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Chara Yadav holds MBA in Finance. Her goal is to simplify finance-related topics. She has worked in finance for about 25 years. She has held multiple finance and banking classes for business schools and communities. Read more at her bio page.

Other forms: professions

An open declaration of an opinion or belief is a profession. If you announce that you believe the earth is flat, your profession of this opinion might cause some giggling among your well-educated friends.

Careers that require specialized training or advanced degrees are considered professions. Your parents may want you to go into a profession like the practice of law, but you dream of being a rodeo clown. The collective group of people practicing a profession is also called profession. The medical profession doesn’t know what to make of that thing growing out of your foot. You are a medical mystery!

Definitions of profession

  1. noun

    an occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences)

    see moresee less

    types:

    show 19 types…
    hide 19 types…
    learned profession

    one of the three professions traditionally believed to require advanced learning and high principles

    literature

    the profession or art of a writer

    architecture

    the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their esthetic effect

    education

    the profession of teaching (especially at a school or college or university)

    journalism

    the profession of reporting or photographing or editing news stories for one of the media

    politics

    the profession devoted to governing and to political affairs

    engineering, technology

    the practical application of science to commerce or industry

    law, practice of law

    the learned profession that is mastered by graduate study in a law school and that is responsible for the judicial system

    newspapering

    journalism practiced for the newspapers

    medicine, practice of medicine

    the learned profession that is mastered by graduate training in a medical school and that is devoted to preventing or alleviating or curing diseases and injuries

    theology

    the learned profession acquired by specialized courses in religion (usually taught at a college or seminary)

    instruction, pedagogy, teaching

    the profession of a teacher

    aeronautical engineering

    the activity of designing and constructing aircraft

    automotive engineering, automotive technology

    the activity of designing and constructing automobiles

    chemical engineering

    the activity of applying chemistry to the solution of practical problems

    communications technology

    the activity of designing and constructing and maintaining communication systems

    computer technology

    the activity of designing and constructing and programming computers

    high tech, high technology

    highly advanced technological development (especially in electronics)

    rail technology, railroading

    the activity of designing and constructing and operating railroads

    type of:

    business, job, line, line of work, occupation

    the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money

  2. noun

    the body of people in a learned occupation

    “the news spread rapidly through the medical
    profession

  3. noun

    an open avowal (true or false) of some belief or opinion

    “a
    profession of disagreement”

    synonyms:

    professing

  4. noun

    affirmation of acceptance of some religion or faith

    “a
    profession of Christianity”

    see moresee less

    type of:

    affirmation

    (religion) a solemn declaration that serves the same purpose as an oath (if an oath is objectionable to the person on religious or ethical grounds)

DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘profession’.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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Princeton’s WordNetRate this definition:4.5 / 18 votes

  1. professionnoun

    the body of people in a learned occupation

    «the news spread rapidly through the medical profession»; «they formed a community of scientists»

  2. professionnoun

    an occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences)

  3. profession, professingnoun

    an open avowal (true or false) of some belief or opinion

    «a profession of disagreement»

  4. professionnoun

    affirmation of acceptance of some religion or faith

    «a profession of Christianity»

WiktionaryRate this definition:4.2 / 5 votes

  1. professionnoun

    A promise or vow made on entering a religious order.

    She died only a few years after her profession.

  2. professionnoun

    A declaration of belief, faith or of one’s opinion.

    Despite his continued professions of innocence, the court eventually sentenced him to five years.

  3. professionnoun

    An occupation, trade, craft, or activity in which one has a professed expertise in a particular area; a job, especially one requiring a high level of skill or training.

    My father was a barrister by profession.

  4. professionnoun

    The practitioners of such an occupation collectively.

    His conduct is against the established practices of the legal profession.

  5. Etymology: From professioun, profession, from professio, from the participle stem of profiteri.

Samuel Johnson’s DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

  1. Professionnoun

    Etymology: profession, Fr. from profess.

    1. Calling; vocation; known employment.

    I must tell you,
    You tender more your person’s honour, than
    Your high profession spiritual.
    William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.

    If we confound arts with the abuse of them, we shall condemn all honest trades; for there are that deceive in all professions, and bury in forgetfulness all knowledge.
    Walter Raleigh.

    Some of our profession keep wounds tented.
    Richard Wiseman.

    No other one race, not the sons of any one other profession, not perhaps altogether, are so much scattered amongst all professions, as the sons of clergymen.
    Thomas Sprat, Sermons.

    This is a practice, in which multitudes, besides those of the learned professions, may be engaged.
    Isaac Watts.

    2. Declaration.

    A naked profession may have credit, where no other evidence can be given.
    Joseph Glanvill, Sceps.

    Most profligately false, with the strongest professions of sincerity.
    Jonathan Swift.

    3. The act of declaring one’s self of any party or opinion.

    For by oil in their lamps, and the first lightning of them, which was common to them both, is meant that solemn profession of faith and repentance, which all christians make in baptism.
    John Tillotson, Sermons.

    When christianity came to be taken up, for the sake of those civil encouragements which attended their profession, the complaint was applicable to christians.
    Jonathan Swift.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

  1. Profession

    A profession is a field of work that has been successfully professionalized. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by the public as possessing special knowledge and skills in a widely recognised body of learning derived from research, education and training at a high level, and who are prepared to apply this knowledge and exercise these skills in the interest of others.Professional occupations are founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested objective counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain. Medieval and early modern tradition recognized only three professions: divinity, medicine, and law, which were called the learned professions. A profession is not a trade and not an industry.Some professions change slightly in status and power, but their prestige generally remains stable over time, even if the profession begins to have more required study and formal education. Disciplines formalized more recently, such as architecture, now have equally long periods of study associated with them.Although professions may enjoy relatively high status and public prestige, not all professionals earn high salaries, and even within specific professions there exist significant differences in salary. In law, for example, a corporate defense lawyer working on an hourly basis may earn several times what a prosecutor or public defender earns.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:3.5 / 2 votes

  1. Profession

    the act of professing or claiming; open declaration; public avowal or acknowledgment; as, professions of friendship; a profession of faith

  2. Profession

    that which one professed; a declaration; an avowal; a claim; as, his professions are insincere

  3. Profession

    that of which one professed knowledge; the occupation, if not mechanical, agricultural, or the like, to which one devotes one’s self; the business which one professes to understand, and to follow for subsistence; calling; vocation; employment; as, the profession of arms; the profession of a clergyman, lawyer, or physician; the profession of lecturer on chemistry

  4. Profession

    the collective body of persons engaged in a calling; as, the profession distrust him

  5. Profession

    the act of entering, or becoming a member of, a religious order

  6. Etymology: [F., fr. L. professio. See Profess, v.]

FreebaseRate this definition:2.5 / 2 votes

  1. Profession

    A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to supply objective counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain. The term is in essence a rather vaguer version of the term «liberal profession», an anglicisation of the French term «profession libérale». Originally borrowed by English users in the nineteenth century, it has been re-borrowed by international users from the late twentieth, though the class overtones of the term do not seem to survive retranslation: “liberal professions” are, according to the Directive on Recognition of Professional Qualifications “those practised on the basis of relevant professional qualifications in a personal, responsible and professionally independent capacity by those providing intellectual and conceptual services in the interest of the client and the public”.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

  1. profession

    A person or group of people with a specific type of job.

    Their profession was known worldwide

    Submitted by MaryC on February 24, 2020  

Matched Categories

    • Affirmation
    • Avowal
    • Occupation
    • Occupational Group

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word ‘profession’ in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3169

  2. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word ‘profession’ in Nouns Frequency: #1120

How to pronounce profession?

How to say profession in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of profession in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of profession in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of profession in a Sentence

  1. Patrice Andrews:

    The 911 calls don’t stop. People are still having emergencies, the emergencies don’t stop and certainly the emergencies don’t care if you are 60 % staffed or below, this profession is, is something we were all called to do and not everyone is meant to be the police. This profession is certainly a noble one, even yet and still, despite everything, this profession is certainly noble.

  2. William Osler:

    Study until twenty five, investigate until forty, profession until sixty, at which age I would have him retired on a double allowance.

  3. Jamil Chitrali:

    Arms are against the norms of my profession, i am teaching principles and morality in the class. How I can carry a gun?

  4. Maxim Behar:

    If the PR industry suffers from this negative reputation, it is because many people associate our profession with politicians and business people who use various contrivances and tricks to conceal or whitewash their flaws and wrongdoings.

  5. Sian Beilock:

    I think the opportunity to use our thinking and reasoning skills and continually use them throughout our lives likely contributes to our ability to stay sharp, so being able to do complex thinking and reasoning in our profession is one way to continually flex our cognitive horsepower or brain power.

Popularity rank by frequency of use


Translations for profession

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

  • مهنة, وظيفةArabic
  • прафесіяBelarusian
  • ofici, professióCatalan, Valencian
  • корматаллаChechen
  • povolání, profeseCzech
  • fag, erhvervDanish
  • BerufGerman
  • ομολογία, επάγγελμα, διακύρηξη, ομότεχνοιGreek
  • profesioEsperanto
  • profesiónSpanish
  • elukutse, ametEstonian
  • حرفه, پیشهPersian
  • vakuutus, lupaus, professio, uskontunnustus, ammatti, ammattikunta, julistusFinnish
  • professionFrench
  • dreuchdScottish Gaelic
  • पेशाHindi
  • foglalkozás, szakma, hivatásHungarian
  • մասնագիտությունArmenian
  • atvinnaIcelandic
  • professioneItalian
  • 職業Japanese
  • 직업, 職業Korean
  • mihne, pîşe, meslek, profesyon, hokar, kariyerKurdish
  • amats, profesijaLatvian
  • umangaMāori
  • profesionMalay
  • beroepDutch
  • zawód, fachPolish
  • profissãoPortuguese
  • legământ, meserie, profesiune, profesie, jurământRomanian
  • профессияRussian
  • poklicSlovene
  • yrkeSwedish
  • ప్రమాణము, విశ్వాసం, వృత్తిTelugu
  • อาชีพThai
  • meslekTurkish
  • фах, професіяUkrainian
  • پیشہUrdu
  • nghề, nghề nghiệpVietnamese
  • calVolapük
  • פּראָפֿעסיעYiddish
  • 行业Chinese

Get even more translations for profession »

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Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Are we missing a good definition for profession? Don’t keep it to yourself…

1

: the act of taking the vows of a religious community

2

: an act of openly declaring or publicly claiming a belief, faith, or opinion : protestation

3

: an avowed religious faith

4

a

: a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation

b

: a principal calling, vocation, or employment

c

: the whole body of persons engaged in a calling

Synonyms

Example Sentences



The doctor talked to students who are thinking about entering the profession.



Most professions in the medical field require years of training.



Their daughter recently became a member of the medical profession.

Recent Examples on the Web

Which means anyone entering the nursing profession in 2023 deserves some major appreciation — and a special present.


Olivia Muenter, Woman’s Day, 29 Mar. 2023





The agreement comes during a prolonged shortage of nurses, with too few students graduating and veteran nurses retiring early or leaving the profession.


Lynne Terry, oregonlive, 29 Mar. 2023





Most of the lighthouse keepers were bachelors, often drawn from professions with some experience in isolation, including sailors and hunters.


David Reamer | Alaska History, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Mar. 2023





Although many hospitals had worse mortality rates than midwives at the time, obstetricians defined their profession with racialized stereotypes of midwives as unsanitary and unscientific.


J. Nathan Matias, WIRED, 26 Mar. 2023





Rodney Webb is returning to coaching after retiring from the profession in April 2022 and spending a year as the athletic director for Highland Park ISD.


Greg Riddle, Dallas News, 20 Mar. 2023





The parallels are obvious: Both feature co-dependent twin doctors at the top of their professions who start to unravel under the weight of their obsession with each other and their career pursuits.


Lauren Huff, EW.com, 17 Mar. 2023





Maylis de Kerangal is a French author whose novels take readers into a character’s profession.


Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 14 Mar. 2023





Their professions are significant as both jobs bring them to Admiralty, the Hong Kong Island district that is the seat of the territory’s lawmaking, the center of administration of justice, high finance and culture.


Patrick Frater, Variety, 13 Mar. 2023



See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘profession.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English professioun, from Anglo-French profession, from Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin profession-, professio, from Latin, public declaration, from profitēri

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of profession was
in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near profession

Cite this Entry

“Profession.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/profession. Accessed 14 Apr. 2023.

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Last Updated:
3 Apr 2023
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