pro·fes·sor

(prə-fĕs′ər)

a. A college or university teacher who ranks above an associate professor.

b. A teacher or instructor.

2. One who professes.

[Middle English professour, from Old French professeur, from Latin professor, from professus, past participle of profitērī, to profess; see profess.]

pro′fes·so′ri·al (prō′fĭ-sôr′ē-əl, prŏf′ĭ-) adj.

pro′fes·so′ri·al·ly adv.

pro·fes′sor·ship′ n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adv.

professorially - in a professorial manner; "she behaved very professorially"

References in periodicals archive

Looking around, she said, "There are a lot of trees here." Professorially, I ventured into a teachable moment and suggested that this geography could be the setting for The Scarlet Letter, which we had read in class.

How not to pimp out reproductive justice

Benchley has a prominent supporting role in Hitchcock's "Foreign Correspondent" (1940), and the director later based the droll openings of his TV series upon the professorially self-deprecating comic short subjects made by the humorist in the 1930s and 1940s.

Getting hitched on cameos

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