The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

--v. 4 debase, contaminate, pollute, taint, vitiate, degrade, defile, desecrate, violate, pervert, corrupt: They swore

undying retribution against those who had profaned their temple.

profanity n. blasphemy, obscenity, cursing, curse-word(s), swearing, swear-word(s), foul or bad or dirty or vulgar or coarse or filthy or smutty or taboo language, four-letter word(s), billingsgate: The film was held to be unfit for broadcasting as it contained so much obscenity and profanity.

profess v. 1 assert, claim, aver, asseverate, state, affirm, confirm, confess, declare, say, hold, maintain, present, offer, proffer, tender, set forth, put forward, pronounce, enounce, enunciate, announce, utter, vow, avow: He professed himself satisfied with the judge's decision. 2 pretend, lay claim, make a pretence, purport, act as if, simulate: They professed to be legitimate businessmen, but I was always suspicious.

professed adj. 1 pretended, ostensible, apparent, alleged, purported, so-called, would-be, self-styled, soi-disant(e): He was a professed wine 'expert' but the bottle he recommended turned out

to be awful. 2 confessed, avowed, sworn, admitted, acknowledged, confirmed, certified, declared: What do you do when a professed friend betrays you?

profession

n. 1 occupation, calling, work, field, vocation, employment, m‚tier, trade, business, craft, line, sphere, speciality or US specialty, job, position, post, situation, Slang racket: I know that she's a doctor, but what is her husband's profession? 2 confession, affirmation, statement, avowal, assertion,

asseveration, declaration, acknowledgement, testimony, averment, admission, announcement: I was uncertain whether to believe his professions of love.

professional

adj. 1 trained, educated, practised, veteran, experienced, seasoned, able, skilled, skilful, gifted, talented, qualified, knowledgeable, licensed, official, expert, masterful, masterly, master, efficient, adept, proficient, competent, polished, finished: He is a professional ambulance driver who has to work as a plumber to make ends meet. 2 excellent, proficient,

efficient, skilful, masterly, thorough, prompt, conscientious, authoritative, businesslike: She did a very professional job of repairing my car.

--n. 3 master, expert, maestro, virtuoso, past master or mistress, specialist, authority, Colloq wizard, pro, whiz or whizz, US maven or mavin, Brit dab hand: You can always tell when the work has been done by a professional.

proficiency

n. facility, skill, talent, adeptness, expertise, expertness, skilfulness, aptitude, capability, ability, dexterity,

capability, competence or competency, ingenuity, knack, savoir faire, Colloq know-how: The proficiency he displayed as a racing-car driver was second to none.

proficient

adj. skilful, skilled, talented, adept, gifted, expert, experienced, practised, au fait, veteran, well-versed, (highly) trained, professional, qualified, capable, able, accomplished, dexterous, competent, knowledgeable, top-notch, first-rate,

Colloq ace, crack, whiz-bang or whizz-bang, Brit wizard: She is an extremely proficient surgeon.

profile n. 1 outline, silhouette, contour, side-view: His aquiline nose shows up prominently in this profile. 2 biography, (biographical or thumbnail or character) sketch, life, portrait, vignette: That profile of Allen in a well-known magazine did not do him justice. 3 analysis, study, survey, examination; graph, diagram, chart, list, statistics: The profile of the average newspaper reader revealed some interesting anomalies.

--v. 4 describe, draw, sketch, limn: The editor phoned to say that they want to profile you in the Gazette's Sunday colour supplement.

profit n. 1 Often, profits. gross or net profit, net or Brit also nett, return(s), gain, yield, revenue, proceeds, bottom line,

surplus, excess, US take, Slang gravy, US vigorish: The profits are down in the third quarter owing to the higher interest rate. 2 advantage, avail, good, benefit, welfare, gain, value,

interest, use, usefulness, Archaic or literary behoof: Let me recommend a book that you will find of some profit.

--v. 3 advance, further, be of profit to, benefit, promote, aid, help, be advantageous or of advantage, serve, avail,

improve: A few lessons from the club professional could profit your golf game. 4 Often, profit from. take advantage of, use, turn to advantage or account, exploit, utilize, make (good) use of, make capital (out) of, capitalize on, maximize, make the most of, Slang cash in on: I hope you profit from the experience. 5 clear, realize, earn, gain, Colloq make a

killing, clean up, rake it in, make a bundle or a packet: Ernestine profited to the tune of œ100,000 on the sale of her house.

profitable

adj. 1 beneficial, productive, lucrative, fruitful, (well-)paying, well-paid, worthwhile, effective, cost-effective, gainful, remunerative, money-making, rewarding: I had never thought of being a pavement artist as a profitable enterprise. Playing professional golf can be very profitable - if you win tournaments. 2 beneficial, helpful, useful, utilitarian,

valuable, worthwhile, advantageous, productive, rewarding: She gave me a lot of good advice that I found profitable in my professional life.

profiteer n. 1 racketeer, exploiter, extortionist, blackmarketeer: The profiteers turned to selling sugar at exorbitant prices.

--v. 2 overcharge, fleece, exploit, milk, make the most of; extort; US gouge: The arms dealers are profiteering by selling banned mat‚riel to the guerrillas.

profligacy

n. 1 debauchery, vice, immorality, sin, sinfulness, wickedness, evil, dissipation, dissoluteness, degeneracy, licentiousness, depravity, corruption, promiscuity, lechery, lasciviousness, lewdness, indecency, perversion, carnality, libertinism, wantonness, unrestraint, eroticism, sybaritism, voluptuousness, sensuality: Soho's reputation for profligacy is now much less deserved. 2 prodigality, extravagance, excess, waste, wastefulness, recklessness, exorbitance, lavishness, improvidence, squandering: The profligacy of the French court at the end of the 17th century was remarkable.

profligate

adj. 1 debauched, vice-ridden, immoral, unprincipled, sinful, shameless, evil, iniquitous, wicked, dissipative, dissolute, degenerate, loose, licentious, depraved, corrupt, promiscuous, lecherous, lascivious, lewd, indecent, perverted, carnal, libertine, wanton, unrestrained, erotic, sybaritic, voluptuous, sensual, wild, abandoned: The duke suddenly gave up his profligate life and became a monk. 2 extravagant, prodigal, wasteful, reckless, squandering, improvident, spendthrift, immoderate, excessive: As the family fortunes waned, my aunt had to curb her profligate ways.

--n. 3 debauchee, sinner, degenerate, pervert, sodomite, reprobate, rake, rakehell, libertine, lecher, whoremonger, rou‚, wanton, sybarite, voluptuary, sensualist: With the restraints removed, the profligate abandoned himself to every excess imaginable. 4 prodigal, spendthrift, wastrel, waster, squanderer: Such are the extravagances indulged in by the profligates who never learnt the value of money.

profound adj. 1 deep, unfathomable, abstruse, recondite, arcane, esoteric, intricate, knotty, involved, tricky, inscrutable, indecipherable, cabbalistic, incomprehensible, obscure, subtle, occult, secret, cryptic, puzzling, enigmatic, mystifying, mysterious: Some aspects of the theory of thought are even too profound for many specialists. 2 learned, scholarly, intellectual, erudite, discerning, astute, sagacious, sage,

wise, penetrating, sharp, keen, insightful, analytical, knowledgeable, informed, well-informed, well-read: Russell was one of the most profound thinkers of his day. 3 deep, great, intense, sincere; heartfelt, keen, acute, utter, extreme, overpowering, overwhelming: He gave a profound sigh and fell asleep at once. It is with profound regret that I must tender my resignation. 4 utter, complete, total, perfect, absolute,

thorough, thoroughgoing, out-and-out, downright, consummate; awful, terrible: Her casual attitude stems from her profound lack of awareness of how important the work is. I was immediately struck by the profound silence in the house. Profound changes are under way.

profoundly

adv. very, extremely, deeply, greatly, keenly, acutely, intensely, sincerely; terribly, awfully: We are profoundly

sorry to have been so much trouble to you.

profundity

n. 1 depth, profoundness, abstruseness, reconditeness, arcaneness, intricacy, subtlety, complexity, complicatedness, difficulty, inscrutability, involvement, involvedness; indecipherability, incomprehensibility, incomprehensibleness, obscurity: I wouldn't claim to have fully grasped the profundity of his ideas. 2 erudition, discernment, scholarship, scholarliness, sagacity, wisdom, sharpness, keenness, astuteness, acumen, insightfulness, knowledgeableness, knowledgeability: I was amazed by the profundity of the argument of one so young.

profuse adj. 1 abundant, ample, plentiful, copious, unstinting, unsparing, ungrudging: My profuse apologies if I have offended you in any way. 2 extravagant, lavish, bountiful, bounteous, prolific, luxuriant, abundant, exuberant, superabundant, lush, thick, teeming, overflowing, bursting, thriving, productive, fruitful, rich: From the seventh year onwards, the trees

yielded profuse crops of pears and plums. 3 excessive, copious, considerable, prolific, liberal, lavish, free, abundant, ample: This stage of the fever is accompanied by profuse sweating. 4 generous, abundant, plentiful, copious, unsparing, unselfish, unstinting, exuberant, magnanimous, liberal: The audience was profuse in its applause and cries of 'Bravo!' and 'Encore!'

profusion n. profuseness, quantity, abundance, plenty, plentifulness, plenteousness, bounty, copiousness, superabundance; mass, host, hoard, number, multitude, lot, mountain, load, mess, stack,

pile, heap, agglomeration, conglomeration, accumulation, wealth, glut, surplus, oversupply, surfeit, plethora, superfluity,

Formal nimiety: Ivy grew in profusion over the front of the house. We had never seen such a profusion of bric-…-brac as they had collected.

progenitor

n. 1 progenitrix, ancestor, forefather, forebear: They regarded the snake god as the progenitor of the human race. 2 predecessor, forerunner, precursor, antecedent, foregoer, source, originator; origin, original, prototype, archetype, pattern, guide: The ancient philosophers were progenitors of many modern ideas. Some regard da Vinci's designs as the

progenitors of some of today's machines.

progeny n. offspring, children, descendants, issue, young, posterity, heirs, scions, successors, sons and daughters, Colloq kids, spawn, fry, US sprouts: He dreamed that his progeny might have a freer, healthier life than his.

prognosis n. forecast, forecasting, prediction, prophecy, prognostication, projection: The doctor has recorded his prognosis for the course of the disease.

prognosticate

v. 1 predict, foretell, prophesy, forecast, presage, divine, forebode: Those prophets of doom are always prognosticating disaster. 2 betoken, augur, herald, foreshadow, foretoken, announce, harbinger, signal, portend: The freshening breeze from the east prognosticates some rainy periods ahead.

programme n. 1 schedule, plan, scheme, agenda, order of the day, routine, protocol, slate, list, listing, description, outline, abstract,

pr‚cis, calendar, menu, bill of fare, curriculum, syllabus,

synopsis, summary, prospectus: The programme shows the sequence of events. You cannot tell what is being offered without a programme. 2 performance, production, show, presentation, (radio or television) play, telecast, broadcast, recital, concert:

Television programmes seem to cater to lower levels of taste and intelligence every year. 3 proceedings, events, affairs,

activities: The programme includes an hour of exercise before breakfast every day.

--v. 4 organize, arrange, prearrange, plan, lay out, map (out), design, formulate, set (up), schedule, book, US slate: The solo pianist is programmed to follow the chamber orchestra.

progress n. 1 (forward) movement, going forward, progression, advance, headway, advancement: Progress through the dense underbrush was very slow. 2 advancement, advance, promotion, improvement, betterment, elevation, rise, development, furtherance: Her

progress in the company might have been impeded by the fact that she was a woman. 3 advancement, course, development, growth, expansion, increase, evolution, maturation, ripening, burgeoning or bourgeoning, amplification, enlargement, spread, extension, broadening, promotion, furtherance, advance, encouragement: Our

left-winger: Once a conservative, he did a complete volte-face after the war and became a progressive.

prohibit v. 1 bar, ban, forbid, disallow, interdict, outlaw, taboo, debar, proscribe: Fishing without a permit is prohibited. 2 prevent, stop, preclude, rule out, obstruct, block, impede, hinder, hamper, inhibit, frustrate, foil, thwart, restrain, check: A turnstile prohibits entry through the exit doors.

prohibition

n. 1 forbiddance, barring, bar, banning, ban, disallowance, disallowing, interdiction, interdicting, outlawing, outlawry, taboo, debarment, debarring, proscription, proscribing: Did the members vote for the prohibition of smoking on club premises? 2 bar, interdict, injunction, debarment, embargo, proscription,

ban: Imposition of an excessively high tariff on imported computer components has amounted to the prohibition of their use in this country.

prohibitive

adj. 1 discouraging, suppressive, repressive, restrictive, prohibitory, inhibitory, restraining: Prohibitive legislation has forced capital out of some profitable areas and into others less productive. 2 excessive, exorbitant, outrageous, dear, high, outlandish, abusive, extortionate, insupportable, criminal: The prices of new designer dresses are prohibitive.

project n. 1 proposal, plan, scheme, design, layout: The project for housing low-income families had to be modified to allow for car parking. 2 activity, enterprise, programme, undertaking, venture, assignment, commitment, obligation, contract,

engagement; occupation, job, work: What project will you move on to when you complete this one?

--v. 3 plan, scheme, prepare, devise, conjure up, concoct, think up, contemplate, contrive, invent, work up or out, propose, present, outline, design, draft, draw up, delineate, describe, put forth or forward, Colloq cook up: In his theory, he projects a quite different causal relationship. 4 cast,

hurl, fling, throw, toss, launch, propel, discharge; shoot, transmit; Colloq chuck, lob: A body projected into space will keep on travelling unless it strikes something. This device projects stereoscopic pictures on a screen. 5 jut out, stick

out, protrude, stand out, bulge (out), extend (out), poke out, beetle (out), overhang: The cornice projects a full six feet over the street. 6 estimate, reckon, calculate, predict, forecast: The economists projected a decline in inflation over the coming months.

projectile

n. missile, shell, bullet, rocket: Projectiles rained down on the enemy gun emplacement.

projection

n. 1 protrusion, protuberance, bulge, extension, overhang, ledge, flange; ridge, eminence, prominence, spur, crag, outcropping: The safety line caught on a projection of the building, and the man was saved. That projection off to the north is covered with ice all year long. 2 proposal, outlining, mapping, mapping out, presenting, presentation: The projection of the plan for the new development must be effective for the council to accept it. 3 plan, scheme, blueprint, programme, design, proposal, outline, diagram, map, representation, planning: The council has approved the projection for the development of the waterfront. 4 estimate, prognostication, forecast, prediction, calculation, reckoning: These sales projections for next year are quite optimistic.

proliferate

v. grow, increase, burgeon or bourgeon, multiply, mushroom, snowball; breed, reproduce: Fast-food restaurants are proliferating everywhere. Failure to disinfect the wound allows germs to proliferate.

proliferation

n. growth, increase, burgeoning or bourgeoning, expansion, spread, escalation, build-up, rise: Some attribute the increase in violent crime to the proliferation of hand-guns.

prolific adj. 1 fertile, fecund, productive, fruitful, abundant, copious, bountiful, bounteous, profuse, plentiful, plenteous, lush, rich, rife: The more perilous its natural survival, the more prolific a species is likely to be. 2 productive, creative, fertile: He is a prolific author, and has more than 200 novels to his credit.

prolong v. extend, lengthen, elongate, stretch (out), draw or drag out, drag (on), keep up, string out, protract: Not wishing to

prolong the agony, we left after the first act. Aunt Caroline prolonged her visit by yet another week.

promenade n. 1 walk, parade, esplanade, boulevard: We strolled along the promenade as far as the pier. 2 walk, stroll, saunter, ramble,

turn, constitutional, airing, turn: After a brief promenade round the garden, she returned to the house.

--v. 3 walk, stroll, saunter, amble, ramble, parade, perambulate, take a walk or stroll: Every Sunday, regardless of the weather, he promenades for an hour in the park. 4 flaunt, show (off), display, parade, strut: Why he promenaded that awful person before all his friends is beyond me!

prominence

n. 1 celebrity, eminence, fame, distinction, notability, reputation, pre-eminence, standing, position, rank, prestige, renown, repute, importance, weight, influence, account, name, consequence: They are a family of considerable prominence in the county. She rose to prominence as an actress just last year. 2 hill, hillock, rise, hummock, outcrop, outcropping, spur, tor, crag, arˆte, spine, ridge, peak, mount, pinnacle; headland, point, promontory: We planted our flag on the prominence and constructed a small cairn. 3 protuberance, projection, protrusion, growth, excrescence, swelling, tumefaction, tumescence, extrusion, outshoot, outgrowth, spur, bulge: If that prominence on your elbow doesn't disappear in a day or so, I should see a doctor.

prominent adj. 1 conspicuous, obvious, evident, recognizable, pronounced, discernible, distinguishable, identifiable, noticeable,

remarkable, noteworthy, eye-catching, striking, outstanding, chief, main, principal, significant, important; apparent, unmistakable or unmistakeable, patent, glaring, salient, flagrant, egregious: The most prominent peak in the region is

Annapurna. Some of the prominent shortcomings of the plan can be rectified easily. 2 eminent, pre-eminent, distinguished,

notable, noteworthy, noted, leading, foremost, first, outstanding, eminent, well-known, famed, illustrious, famous, celebrated, renowned, acclaimed, honoured, honourable, respected, well-thought-of, prestigious, reputable, creditable: