professional

adjective 1 [ attrib. ] of, relating to, or connected with a profession : young professional people | the professional schools of Yale and Harvard. 2 (of a person) engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as a pastime : a professional boxer. • having or showing the skill appropriate to a professional person; competent or skillful : their music is both memorable and professional. • worthy of or appropriate to a professional person : his professional expertise. • informal derogatory denoting a person who persistently makes a feature of a particular activity or attribute : a professional naysayer. noun a person engaged or qualified in a profession : professionals such as lawyers and surveyors. • a person engaged in a specified activity, esp. a sport or branch of the performing arts, as a main paid occupation rather than as a pastime. • a person competent or skilled in a particular activity : she was a real professional on stage.