profess
verb
[ prəˈfɛs ]
• claim that one has (a quality or feeling), especially when this is not the case.
• "he had professed his love for her only to walk away"
Similar:
declare,
announce,
proclaim,
assert,
state,
affirm,
avow,
maintain,
protest,
aver,
vow,
asseverate,
claim,
pretend,
purport,
allege,
make a pretence of,
lay claim,
make out that,
let on that,
• affirm one's faith in or allegiance to (a religion or set of beliefs).
• "a people professing Christianity"
Similar:
state/affirm one's faith in,
affirm one's allegiance to,
make a public declaration of,
declare publicly,
avow,
confess,
acknowledge publicly,
• teach (a subject) as a professor.
• "a professor—what does he profess?"
Origin:
Middle English (as be professed ‘be received into a religious order’): from Latin profess- ‘declared publicly’, from the verb profiteri, from pro- ‘before’ + fateri ‘confess’.
