• vt. 自称；公开表示；宣称信奉；正式准予加入
• vi. 声称；承认；当教授

pro-,向前，在前，-fess,说话，告知，词源同confess,prophecy,phone.引申词义公开宣称，声称等。

profess

profess: [14] Profess comes from prōfessus, the past participle of Latin prōfitērī ‘declare publicly’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forth, in public’ and fatērī ‘acknowledge, confess’ (a relative of English fable, fame, and fate and source also of confess). A professor [14] is etymologically someone who ‘makes a public claim’ to knowledge in a particular field; and someone’s profession [13] is the area of activity in which they ‘profess’ a skill or competence.
=> confess, fable, fame, fate

profess (v.)

early 14c., "to take a vow" (in a religious order), a back-formation from profession or else from Old French profes, from Medieval Latin professus "avowed," literally "having declared publicly," past participle of Latin profiteri "declare openly, testify voluntarily, acknowledge, make public statement of," from pro- "forth" (see pro-) + fateri (past participle fassus) "acknowledge, confess," akin to fari "to speak," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (see fame (n.)). Meaning "declare openly" first recorded 1520s, "a direct borrowing of the sense from Latin" [Barnhart]. Related: Professed; professing.

1. Why do organisations profess that they care?

为什么机构都谎称自己对此很关心？

来自柯林斯例句

2. I profess that I was surprised at the news.

我承认这消息使我惊讶.

来自《简明英汉词典》

3. They have become what they profess to scorn.

他们成了自己曾声称看不起的那种人.

来自《简明英汉词典》

4. I don't profess expert knowledge of / to be an expert in this subject.

我并不自诩对这一问题内行[是这一问题的专家].

来自辞典例句

5. I don't profess to be an expert on that subject.

我不自认为是那个问题的专家.

来自辞典例句