Verb
To make open declaration of, as of one's knowledge, belief, action, etc.; to avow or acknowledge; to confess publicly; to own or admit freely.
To set up a claim to; to make presence to; hence, to put on or present an appearance of.
To present to knowledge of, to proclaim one's self versed in; to make one's self a teacher or practitioner of, to set up as an authority respecting; to declare (one's self to be such); as, he professes surgery; to profess one's self a physician.
To take a profession upon one's self by a public declaration; to confess.
To declare friendship.
Source: Webster's dictionaryCows are amongst the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate tenderness to their young when deprived of them; and, in short, I am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these quiet creatures. Thomas De Quincey
The first degree of folly is to conceit one's self wise the second to profess it the third to despise counsel. Benjamin Franklin
There are few things in which we deceive ourselves more than in the esteem we profess to entertain for our firends. It is little better than a piece of quackery. The truth is, we think of them as we please, that is, as they please or displease us. William Hazlitt
We should be wary of politicians who profess to follow history while only noticing those signposts of history that point in the direction which they themselves already favour. Douglas Hurd
I will begin with the self-styled "Christian" party, who profess to base their morality on the New Testament. But whether it is really more Christian to follow or to ignore the teachings of the Gospels I shall not discuss. F. H. Bradley
It is not what they profess but what they practice that makes them good. Greek Proverb