Noun

(countable) the outermost shape, view, or edge of an object

His fingers traced the profile of the handle.

(countable) The shape, view, or shadow of a person's head from the side; a side view.

The brooch showed the profile of a Victorian woman.

(countable) A summary or collection of information, especially about a person

Law enforcement assembled a profile of the suspect.

(countable) a specific space or field in which users can provide various types of personal information in software or Internet systems

I just updated my Facebook profile to show I got engaged.

(uncountable) reputation

(uncountable) the amount by which something protrudes

Choose a handle with a low profile so it does not catch on things.

(uncountable) prominence; noticeability

Acting is, by nature, profession in which one must keep a high profile .

(archaeology) A smoothed (e.g., troweled or brushed) vertical surface of an excavation showing evidence of at least one feature or diagnostic specimen; the graphic recording of such as by sketching, photographing, etc.

Character; totality of related characteristics; signature; status (especially in scientific, technical, or military uses).

What's the thermal profile on that thing?

(architecture) A section of any member, made at right angles with its main lines, showing the exact shape of mouldings etc.

(civil engineering) A drawing exhibiting a vertical section of the ground along a surveyed line, or graded work, as of a railway, showing elevations, depressions, grades, etc.

Noun

(en noun)

Total income or cash flow minus expenditures. The money or other benefit a non-governmental organization or individual receives in exchange for products and services sold at an advertised price.

* Rambler

Let no man anticipate uncertain profits .

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits' to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: ' profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.}}

(dated, literary) Benefit, positive result obtained.

* Bible, 1 Corinthians vii. 35

This I speak for your own profit .

* Shakespeare

if you dare do yourself a profit and a right

(legal) In property law, a nonpossessory interest in land whereby a party is entitled to enter the land of another for the purpose of taking the soil or the substance of the soil (coal, oil, minerals, and in some jurisdictions timber and game).