professing

verb

present participle of profess
1
as in pretending
to present a false appearance of professed friendship while secretly plotting revenge

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in declaring
to state clearly and strongly the lonely woman professed her love in a series of letters to the soldier

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in insisting
to state as a fact usually forcefully he professed his innocence to anyone who would listen

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of professing The finale ended with Malcolm finally professing his feelings for Lori. — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 7 July 2026 In recent campaign communications, all three Democrats running to become the next governor of Kansas have cited internal data professing themselves to be leading their primary competition. — Matthew Kelly updated June 26, Kansas City Star, 26 June 2026 Carolla then turned more serious, professing his lifelong love of the medium. — City News Service, Daily News, 28 May 2026 After professing an oath of faithfulness to observe the customs of the cathedral, the archbishop may place a hand upon it or kiss it. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Mar. 2026 The brothers discussed that game on their Einfach Mal Luppen podcast the week, with Toni professing a fondness for Dan Burn’s agricultural style. — George Caulkin, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2026 Columbia Acting President Claire Shipman wrote in a morning email to students and faculty the Department of Homeland Security gained access to the Manhattan building by professing to be searching for a missing person. — Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2026 In response, Carlson sent Goldberg a series of hostile texts professing ignorance and warning Goldberg not to make his criticism public. — Jason Zengerle, New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2026 Murph the Surf and two of his boys were collared two days later, professing that the goods were gone. — Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for professing
  1. pretending
  2. declaring
  3. insisting
  4. assuming
  5. asserting
  6. alleging
  7. simulating
  8. proclaiming
Verb
  • Communicating once and pretending people are not having reactions and doubts is unhelpful.
    — Maria Ross, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
  • Maybe the most ethical – and enjoyable – way to travel now is to stop pretending you live there and embrace your status as a tourist.
    — Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 31 July 2026
Definition of pretending
Verb
  • Montse declaring herself the daughter of God, and that the words her daughters sing are dictated to her by God and part of her mission to save humanity via music.
    — John Hopewell, Variety, 30 July 2026
  • The Tates’ triumphant return to Miami functioned as something of a litmus test for conservative personalities, with some declaring that their brand of masculinity had no place in the party.
    — Dan Adler, Vanity Fair, 29 July 2026
Definition of declaring
Verb
  • Palantir says insisting on using local suppliers can come at the expense of public services and safety.
    — Bloomberg, Mercury News, 28 July 2026
  • Improving diagnostics and supportive measures for autism For many years, clinicians have tried to treat differences in face processing by insisting autistic patients make eye contact—which researchers now know doesn’t work.
    — Isabella Backman, Hartford Courant, 25 July 2026
Definition of insisting
Verb
  • The advice about not following your kids is often about not abandoning your life and support systems and assuming your kids will fill in the gaps.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Mercury News, 31 July 2026
  • Arguably the subsequent doubling was due to a combination of surging Chinese demand and momentum trading, but even assuming that, the market tightness after the war ended kept prices on a long upward trajectory, not a rocket launch.
    — Michael Lynch, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of assuming
Verb
  • There’s another comparison between Homer and the Bible that demonstrates parallels between Jesus and Odysseus while asserting Jesus’ superiority,MacDonald says.
    — John Blake, CNN Money, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Anthropic’s guardrail was a sentence in a prompt asserting the internet was not there.
    — Sandy Carter, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of asserting
Verb
  • The family of a 23-year-old man killed in a wrong-way crash is suing the Florida Department of Transportation, alleging that detection software designed to prevent such incidents failed on the night of the tragedy.
    — Steve Maugeri, CBS News, 31 July 2026
  • But let’s circle back to the dramatic ending of last week’s Rocky Horror party, when Georgia told Emira about the transphobic comment Charlie had made (alleging that her boyfriend was actually gay).
    — Tom Smyth, Vulture, 30 July 2026
Definition of alleging
Verb
  • It was supposed to relight its engines for a landing burn off the coast of Texas, simulating maneuvers required to return the booster back to the launch pad for recovery and reuse.
    — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 25 July 2026
  • In their new study, the HZDR team says the effect could become especially important for adiabatic quantum computers, a class of machines widely studied for solving optimization problems, searching massive datasets, and simulating molecules.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 25 July 2026
Definition of simulating
Verb
  • Carlson, who had just released a documentary called The End of Men, devoted hours of airtime to proclaiming Tate’s innocence; so did the right-wing podcaster Candace Owens.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
  • The authors aimed to save college sports by (restricting the transfer portal) and (hard-capping NIL) but also (kneecapping the Big Ten and SEC) and proclaiming (schools can’t change conferences).
    — Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 22 July 2026
Definition of proclaiming

Browse Nearby Words

professes
professing
profession
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Cite this Entry

“Professing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/professing. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

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