Definition of "professional" []

• Of, relating to, engaged in, or suitable for a profession: lawyers, doctors, and other professional people. (adjective)
• Conforming to the standards of a profession: professional behavior. (adjective)
• Engaging in a given activity as a source of livelihood or as a career: a professional writer. (adjective)
• Performed by persons receiving pay: professional football. (adjective)
• Having or showing great skill; expert: a professional repair job. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""I want to judge my players on their professional behaviour, their ­professional lives."
• "It took 11 years for her to get another pro film credit though the term "professional" applies only loosely to 1993's straight-to-VHS "Cyborg 2", though she spent time honing her craft in her brother's film school projects and music videos."
• "Also, the term professional distance sounds wrong to me, because I believe you have as much validity and professionalism for being in the E.D. as a paid social worker or other paid professional would."