"professes" in the verb sense
1. profess
practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be knowledgeable about
"She professes organic chemistry"
2. profess
confess one's faith in, or allegiance to
"The terrorists professed allegiance to their country"
"he professes to be a Communist"
3. concede, profess, confess
admit (to a wrongdoing
"She confessed that she had taken the money"
4. profess
state freely
"The teacher professed that he was not generous when it came to giving good grades"
5. profess
receive into a religious order or congregation
6. profess
take vows, as in religious order
"she professed herself as a nun"
7. profess, pretend
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"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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