expert

expert adj *proficient, adept, skilled, skillful, masterly

Analogous words: practiced, drilled (see PRACTICE vb): trained, schooled (see TEACH): *dexterous, deft, adroit

Antonyms: amateurish

Contrasted words: inept, maladroit, *awkward, clumsy

expert n Expert, adept, artist, artiste, virtuoso, wizard are comparable when they designate a person who shows mastery in a subject, an art, or a profession or who reveals extraordinary skill in execution, performance, or technique.

Expert implies successful experience, broad knowledge of one's subject, and distinguished achievements; it is applied specifically to one who is recognized as an authority in his field

{

an expert in city planning

}

{

a hand-writing expert

}

{

this problem in triangulation was extremely difficult, and an expert in geodesy was brought from the United States— Heiser

}

{

in philosophy he naturally looks for guidance to the experts and professionals— James

}

Adept connotes understanding of the mysteries of some art or craft or penetration into secrets beyond the reach of exact science

{

thou art an adept in the difficult lore of Greek and Frank philosophy— Shelley

}

It tends to imply sublety or ingenuity

{

he is an adept in intrigue

}

{

he is an adept at evasion

}

{

an adept at understatement— Buchan

}

Artist stresses creative imagination and extraordinary skill in execution or in giving outward form to what the mind conceives. More than any other word in this group it stresses skill in performance and the factors (as perfection in workmanship, loving attention to detail, and a feeling for material) that are pertinent thereto

{

the good craftsman . . . becomes an artist in so far as he treats his materials also for themselves . . . and is perpetually besieged by dreams of beauty in his work— A lexander

}

{

it came to pass that after a time the artist was forgotten, but the work lived— Schreiner

}

Artiste applies especially to public performers (as actors, singers, and dancers) but may occasionally be applied to workers in crafts where adeptness and taste are indispensable to distinguished achievement

{

that milliner is an artiste

}

{

groups of artistes rehearsing every kind of act— Bambrick

}

Virtuoso, though often close to artist in meaning, stresses the outward display of great technical skill or brilliance in execution rather than the inner passion for perfection or beauty. It is applied chiefly to performers on musical instruments and especially to pianists, violinists, and cellists

{

the compositions of Liszt are the delight of vir- tuosos

}

{

this precise evocation of forms and colors by the great virtuosos of description— Babbitt

}

Wizard implies such skill and knowledge or such excellence in performance as seems to border on the magical

{

a wizard with a billiard cue

}

{

that Sauerbruch, as thoracic surgeon, was a genius and something of a wizard seems to have been generally accepted— Brit. Book News

}

Antonyms: amateur

Contrasted words: tyro, dabbler, dilettante (see AMATEUR): *novice, apprentice, probationer