a person engaged in one of the learned professions
an athlete who plays for pay
engaged in a profession or engaging in as a profession or means of livelihood; "the professional man or woman possesses distinctive qualifications"; "began her professional career after the Olympics"; "professional theater"; "professional football"; "a professional cook"; "professional actors and athletes"
characteristic of or befitting a profession or one engaged in a profession; "professional conduct"; "professional ethics"; "a thoroughly professional performance"
engaged in by members of a profession; "professional occupations include medicine and the law and teaching"
of or relating to a profession; "we need professional advice"; "professional training"; "professional equipment for his new office"
of or relating to or suitable as a profession; "professional organizations"; "a professional field such as law"
charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone; "The journalists have defamed me!" "The article in the paper sullied my reputation"
an additional ingredient that is added by mixing with the base; "the growing medium should be equal parts of sand and loam with an admixture of peat moss and cow manure"; "a large intermixture of sand"
the state of impairing the quality or reducing the value of something
marked by or capable of arousing controversy; "the issue of the death penalty is highly controversial"; "Rushdie's controversial book"; "a controversial decision on affirmative action"
(physics) the transfer of energy between elementary particles or between an elementary particle and a field or between fields; mediated by gauge bosons