Sentence:  His forefathers had been, as a rule, <WSD>professional</WSD> men&mdash;physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill;nb.... 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Of, pertaining to, or in accordance with the (usually high) standards of a profession.