pro fit-making
1 ADJ [usu ADJ n] A profit-making business or organization makes a profit. [BUSINESS ] □ He wants to set up a profit-making company, owned mostly by the university.
2 → see also non-profit-making
pro f|it mar|gin (profit margins ) N‑COUNT A profit margin is the difference between the selling price of a product and the cost of producing and marketing it. [BUSINESS ] □ The group had a net profit margin of 30% last year.
pro fit-sharing N‑UNCOUNT [oft N n] Profit-sharing is a system by which all the people who work in a company have a share in its profits. [BUSINESS ]
pro fit-taking N‑UNCOUNT Profit-taking is the selling of stocks and shares at a profit after their value has risen or just before their value falls. [BUSINESS ]
prof|li|ga|cy /prɒ fl I gəsi/ N‑UNCOUNT Profligacy is the spending of too much money or the using of too much of something. [FORMAL ] □ [+ of ] …the continuing profligacy of certain states.
prof|li|gate /prɒ fl I g I t/ ADJ Someone who is profligate spends too much money or uses too much of something. [FORMAL ] □ …the most profligate consumer of energy in the world.
pro for|ma /proʊ fɔː r mə/ also pro-forma ADJ [usu ADJ n] In banking, a company's pro forma balance or earnings are their expected balance or earnings. [BUSINESS ]
pro|found /prəfaʊ nd/ (profounder , profoundest )
1 ADJ You use profound to emphasize that something is very great or intense. [EMPHASIS ] □ …discoveries which had a profound effect on many areas of medicine. □ …profound disagreement. □ Anna's patriotism was profound. ● pro|found|ly ADV [ADV with v, ADV adj/-ed] □ This has profoundly affected my life.
2 ADJ A profound idea, work, or person shows great intellectual depth and understanding. □ This is a book full of profound, original and challenging insights.
pro|fun|dity /prəfʌ nd I ti/ (profundities )
1 N‑UNCOUNT Profundity is great intellectual depth and understanding. □ [+ of ] The profundity of this book is achieved with breathtaking lightness.
2 N‑UNCOUNT If you refer to the profundity of a feeling, experience, or change, you mean that it is deep, powerful, or serious. □ [+ of ] …the profundity of the structural problems besetting the country.
3 N‑COUNT A profundity is a remark that shows great intellectual depth and understanding. □ His work is full of profundities and asides concerning the human condition.
pro|fuse /prəfjuː s/
1 ADJ [usu ADJ n] Profuse sweating, bleeding, or vomiting is sweating, bleeding, or vomiting large amounts. □ …a remedy that produces profuse sweating. ● pro|fuse|ly ADV [ADV after v] □ He was bleeding profusely.
2 ADJ [usu ADJ n] If you offer profuse apologies or thanks, you apologize or thank someone a lot. □ Then the police officer recognised me, breaking into profuse apologies. ● pro|fuse|ly ADV [ADV after v] □ They were very grateful to be put right and thanked me profusely.
pro|fu|sion /prəfjuː ʒ ə n/ N‑SING [with sing or pl verb, oft in N ] If there is a profusion of something or if it occurs in profusion , there is a very large quantity or variety of it. [FORMAL ] □ [+ of ] The Dart is a delightful river with a profusion of wild flowers along its banks.
pro|geni|tor /proʊdʒe n I tə r / (progenitors )
1 N‑COUNT [usu with poss] A progenitor of someone is a direct ancestor of theirs. [FORMAL ] □ [+ of ] He was also a progenitor of seven presidents of Nicaragua.
2 N‑COUNT [usu with poss] The progenitor of an idea or invention is the person who first thought of it. [FORMAL ] □ [+ of ] …the progenitor of the C5 electric car.
prog|eny /prɒ dʒəni/ N‑PLURAL [usu with poss] You can refer to a person's children or to an animal's young as their progeny . [FORMAL ] □ Davis was never loquacious on the subject of his progeny.
pro|ges|ter|one /proʊdʒe stəroʊn/ N‑UNCOUNT Progesterone is a hormone that is produced in the ovaries of women and female animals and helps prepare the body for pregnancy. □ If the egg is not fertilised oestrogen and progesterone decrease.
prog|no|sis /prɒgnoʊ s I s/ (prognoses /prɒgnoʊ siːz/) N‑COUNT A prognosis is an estimate of the future of someone or something, especially about whether a patient will recover from an illness. [FORMAL ] □ If the cancer is caught early the prognosis is excellent.
prog|nos|ti|ca|tion /prɒgnɒ st I ke I ʃ ə n/ (prognostications ) N‑VAR A prognostication is a statement about what you think will happen in the future. [FORMAL ] □ [+ about ] The country is currently obsessed with gloomy prognostications about its future.
pro|gram ◆◆◇ /proʊ græm/ (programs , programming , programmed )
1 N‑COUNT A program is a set of instructions that a computer follows in order to perform a particular task. [COMPUTING ] □ The chances of an error occurring in a computer program increase with the size of the program.
2 VERB When you program a computer, you give it a set of instructions to make it able to perform a particular task. [COMPUTING ] □ [V n to-inf] He programmed his computer to compare all the possible combinations. □ [V n] …45 million people, about half of whom can program their own computers. □ [V -ed] …a computer programmed to translate a story given to it in Chinese. ● pro|gram|ming N‑UNCOUNT [oft N n] □ …programming skills. □ …the concepts of programming.
3 → see also programme