Dictionary

professionally en · ADV

Etymology

Etymology tree English professional Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English professionally From professional + -ly.

Meanings

1. As a professional; for one's paid career.
   • Steve Davis plays snooker professionally.
2. In a professional manner.
   • He said gardaí had responded professionally to “thuggish violence” in the area and those arrested would be “charged, named and dealt with relentlessly” by the criminal justice system. 2025 October 22, Jim O'Callaghan, quotee, “Second night of unrest in Dublin as protesters target asylum hotel”, in The Guardian, sourced from P. A. Media, →ISSN, archived from the original on 06 Dec 2025:
   • There is no precredit compassion expressed in “Side Street”: In place of Ray’s protective, implied narrator there is the professionally gruff voice of Paul Kelly, an actor who specialized in coldly professional New York City police detectives. 2007 July 31, Dave Kehr, “New DVDs”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Jan 2021:
   • You handled that customer's complaint very professionally.

Forms

Antonyms

unprofessionally

Deriveds

nonprofessionally · interprofessionally · proshot

Translations (16)

fi ammattimaisesti (in a professional manner) · pl profesjonalnie (in a professional manner) · pt profissionalmente (in a professional manner) · sv yrkesmässigt (in a professional manner) · uk професі́йно (in a professional manner) · ca professionalment (in a professional manner) · fr professionnellement (in a professional manner) · ro profesional (in a professional manner) · sv professionellt (in a professional manner) · ro în mod profesional (in a professional manner) · it professionalmente (in a professional manner) · sk odborne (in a professional manner) · sk profesionálne (in a professional manner) · eo profesie (in a professional manner) · gl profesionalmente (in a professional manner) · es profesionalmente (in a professional manner)