Verb
1. practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be knowledgeable about;
"She professes organic chemistry"2. confess one's faith in, or allegiance to;
"The terrorists professed allegiance to the Muslim faith""he professes to be a Communist"3. admit, make a clean breast of;
"She confessed that she had taken the money"4. state freely;
"The teacher professed that he was not generous when it came to giving good grades"5. receive into a religious order or congregation
6. take vows, as in religious order;
"she professed herself as a nun"7. state insincerely;
"He professed innocence but later admitted his guilt""She pretended not to have known the suicide bomber""She pretends to be an expert on wine"