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; exactness; nicety; correctness; as, the value of testimony depends on its accuracy. The professed end [of logic] is to teach men to think, to judge, and to reason, with precision and accuracy. Reid. The accuracy with which the piston fits the sides. Lardner.

The computing official of an insurance company; one whose profession it is to calculate for insurance companies the risks and premiums for life, fire, and other insurances.

ions: by acuteness of intellect, we discern nice distinctions. Perhaps, also, he felt his professional acuteness interested in bringing it to a successful close. Sir W. Scott.

One of a sect of visionaries, who, professing to imitate the state of Adam, discarded the use of dress in their assemblies.

One who adheres; one who adheres; one who follows a leader, party, or profession; a follower, or partisan; a believer in a particular faith or church.

; one who admires or loves greatly; an ardent admirer. "An adorer of truth." Clarendon. I profess myself her adorer, not her friend. Shak.

one; matter; concern; as, a difficult affair to manage; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public; -- often in the plural. "At the head of affairs." Junius. "A talent for affairs." Prescott.

Professing ignorance; involving no dogmatic; pertaining to or involving agnosticism. -- Ag*nos"tic*al*ly, adv.

That doctrine which, professing ignorance, neither asserts nor denies. Specifically: (Theol.)

One who practices allopathy; one who professes allopathy.

; esp. one who cultivates any study or art, from taste or attachment, without pursuing it professionally.

make some change in the details or provisions of a bill or measure while on its passage, professedly for its improvement.

alies and contending principles that are found in the minds and affairs of men. Burke. As Professor Owen has remarked, there is no greater anomaly in nature than a bird that can not fly. Darwin.

A figure in which the speaker professes to be at a loss what course to pursue, where to begin to end, what to say, etc.

An abandonment of what one has voluntarily professed; a total desertion of departure from one's faith, principles, or party; esp., the renunciation of a religious faith; as, Julian's apostasy from Christianity.

One who, after having received sacred orders, renounces his clerical profession.

To renounce totally a religious belief once professed; to forsake one's church, the faith or principles once held, or the party to which one has previously adhered. He apostatized from his old faith in facts, took to believing in Carlyle.

A member of one of certain ascetic sects which at various times professed to imitate the practice of the apostles.

The legs of a hawk from the thigh to the foot. Halliwell. Bred to arms, educated to the profession of a soldier. -- In arms, armed for war; in a state of hostility. -- Small arms, portable firearms known as muskets, rifles, carbines, pistols, etc. -- A stand of arms, a complete set for one soldier, as a musket, bayo…

a vast multitude; a host. An army of good words. Shak. Standing army, a permanent army of professional soldiers, as distinguished from militia or volunteers.