professional

professional
    adj 1: 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" [ant:
           {nonprofessional}]
    2: of or relating to or suitable as a profession; "professional
       organizations"; "a professional field such as law"
    3: characteristic of or befitting a profession or one engaged in
       a profession; "professional conduct"; "professional ethics";
       "a thoroughly professional performance" [ant:
       {unprofessional}]
    4: of or relating to a profession; "we need professional
       advice"; "professional training"; "professional equipment for
       his new office"
    5: engaged in by members of a profession; "professional
       occupations include medicine and the law and teaching"
    n 1: a person engaged in one of the learned professions [syn:
         {professional}, {professional person}]
    2: an athlete who plays for pay [syn: {professional}, {pro}]
       [ant: {amateur}]
    3: an authority qualified to teach apprentices [syn: {master},
       {professional}]
    

Professional \Pro*fes"sion*al\, a.
   1. Of or pertaining to a profession, or calling; conforming
      to the rules or standards of a profession; following a
      profession; as, professional knowledge; professional
      conduct. "Pride, not personal, but professional."
      --Macaulay. "A professional sneerer." --De Quincey.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Engaged in by professionals; as, a professional race; --
      opposed to {amateur}.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Professional \Pro*fes"sion*al\, n.
   A person who prosecutes anything professionally, or for a
   livelihood, and not in the character of an amateur; a
   professional worker.
   [1913 Webster]
    

136 Moby Thesaurus words for "professional":
      Admirable Crichton, Daedalian, able, academic, accomplished, adept,
      adroit, apt, artisan, artist, artiste, artistic, at concert pitch,
      attache, authoritative, authority, bravura, brilliant,
      businesslike, career, clean, clever, coached, competent,
      connaisseur, connoisseur, conscientious, consultant, conversant,
      coordinated, cordon bleu, crack, crack shot, crackerjack,
      craftsman, cross-disciplinary, cunning, cute, daedal, dead shot,
      deft, dexterous, dextrous, diplomat, diplomatic, diplomatist,
      educated, efficient, elder statesman, excellent, experienced,
      experienced hand, expert, expert consultant, fancy, finished,
      functional, gifted, good, goodish, gownsman, graceful, graduate,
      graduate-professional, handy, handy man, industrial, ingenious,
      initiate, initiated, interdisciplinary, journeyman, knowledgeable,
      licensed, maestro, magisterial, marksman, master, masterful,
      masterly, maven, neat, no mean, no slouch, official, old pro,
      past master, pedagogical, polished, politic, politician,
      postgraduate, practiced, prepared, primed, pro, professor,
      proficient, prompt, qualified, quick, quite some, ready,
      resourceful, savant, scholarly, scholastic, schoolish, seasoned,
      seasoned professional, shark, sharp, skilled, skillful, slick,
      some, specialist, statesman, statesmanlike, stylish, tactful,
      talented, technical, technical adviser, technician, the compleat,
      the complete, thorough, trained, veteran, virtuoso, vocational,
      well-done, whiz, wizard, workmanlike