amateur

amateur
amateur, dilettante, dabbler, tyro denote a person who follows a pursuit without attaining proficiency or a professional status.
Amateur may denote one who has a taste or liking for something rather than an expert knowledge of it; in this sense it is distinguished from connoisseur
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an amateur of cameos

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affected the pose of the gentleman amateur of the arts— F. H. Ellis

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Amateur is also applied to a person whose participation in an activity requiring skill is due. to a personal rather than a professional interest. It usually but not invariably implies a lack of mastery. This latter implication is not often found in sports, where a technical distinction between an amateur (one who competes without remuneration) and a professional (one who competes for reward) prevails. In other use the word is opposed to expert and adept, as well as professional. Sometimes it suggests lack of experience or apprenticeship
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every artist was first an amateurEmerson

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sometimes it connotes indulgence in a particular pursuit as a pastime or as an avocation
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how could an amateur venture out and make an exhibition of himself after such splendid rowing!— Jefferies

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Very often, especially in contrast to expert or adept, it connotes superficiality, bungling, or indifference to professional standards
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it is beginning to be hinted that we are a nation of amateursRosebery

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the third earl of Shaftesbury . . . illustrated this unsystematic method of thinking. He was an amateur, an aristocratic amateur, careless of consistency— Ellis

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Dilettante is applied to an amateur (in the older underogatory sense of that word) in the fine arts (see AESTHETE). It stresses enjoyment rather than effort, a frittering rather than a concentration of one’s energies, and, sometimes, the point of view of the aesthete
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the dilettante lives an easy, butterfly life, knowing nothing of . . . toil and labor— Osler

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we continue to respect the erudite mind, and to decry the appreciative spirit as amateurish and dilettanteBenson

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Dabbler implies a lack of serious purpose, but it suggests desultory habits of work and lack of persistence
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your dabblers in metaphysics are the most dangerous creatures breathing— Tucker

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the certainty of touch which marks the difference between an artist and the dabbler . . . can come only after patient study— Wendell

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Tyro does not necessarily imply youth but does suggest comparable inexperience or audacity with resulting incompetence or crudeness
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it may be fancy on the part of a tyro in music to suggest that a change from poetry to prose occurs when Beethoven introduces in the last movement of the Choral Symphony . . . a subject in words— Alexander

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“a noble theme! ” the tyro cried, and straightway scribbled off a sonnet. “A noble theme, ” the poet sighed, “I am not fit to write upon it”— Wells

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Analogous words: *novice, apprentice, probationer
Antonyms: professional: expert
Contrasted words: adept, wizard, virtuoso (see EXPERT)

New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.

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  • amateur — amateur, trice [ amatɶr, tris ] n. • XVe; lat. amator 1 ♦ Personne qui aime, cultive, recherche (certaines choses). Un amateur de musique. Il est amateur de bonne cuisine. « des amateurs et surtout des amatrices de raï » (Le Monde, 1998). Les… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • amateur — am‧a‧teur [ˈæmətə, tʆʊə, tʆə, ˌæməˈtɜː ǁ ˈæmətʆʊr, tər] noun [countable] someone who does an activity for pleasure, not as a job: • He thinks the drawings could be the work of an amateur. amateur adjective : • amateur photographers * * * Ⅰ.… …   Financial and business terms

  • Amateur — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Amateur es un término tomado del francés es generalmente empleado al referirse a un aficionado, o a un género de índole no profesional en algún area estudio o de entretenimiento. Amateur. Título de una película.… …   Wikipedia Español

  • amateur — AMATEUR. s. m. Celui qui a beaucoup d attachement, de goût pour quelque chose. Amateur de la vertu, de la gloire. Amateur de louanges. Amateur de la nouveauté. [b]f♛/b] Il se dit aussi De celui qui aime les Beaux Arts sans les exercer. Amateur de …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française 1798

  • Amateur — Sm std. (17. Jh.) Entlehnung. Entlehnt aus frz. amateur in der Bedeutung Kunstliebhaber , dieses aus l. amātor Liebender , Nomen agentis zu l. amāre lieben, etwas gern tun . Heute nach dem Vorbild des Englischen als Internationalismus besonders… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • amateur — [am′ə chər, am′əchoor΄; am′ə tʉr΄, am′ə tər] n. [Fr < L amator, lover < pp. of amare, to love] 1. a person who engages in some art, science, sport, etc. for the pleasure of it rather than for money; a nonprofessional; specif., an athlete… …   English World dictionary

  • amateur — Amateur. s. m. v. Qui aime. Il ne se dit que pour marquer l affection qu on a pour les choses, & non celle qu on a pour les personnes. Amateur de la vertu, de la gloire des lettres, des arts. amateur des bons livres, des tableaux. amateur des… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • amateur — (plural amateurs; del francés; pronunciamos amater ) adjetivo,sustantivo masculino y femenino 1. Que se dedica a una actividad por afición y no profesionalmente: Es un tenista amateur. Es un equipo de amateurs. 2. Pragmática: insulto. [ …   Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española

  • amateur — (n.) 1784, one who has a taste for (something), from Fr. amateur lover of, from L. amatorem (nom. amator) lover, agent noun from amatus, pp. of amare to love (see AMY (Cf. Amy)). Meaning dabbler (as opposed to professional) is from 1786. As an… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Amateur — Amateur: Das seit dem 17. Jh. bezeugte Fremdwort bezeichnete zunächst den Kunstliebhaber und Kunstfreund, allerdings mit dem leicht verächtlichen Nebensinn des Dilettantischen. Erst von der Mitte des 19. Jh.s an kommt die heute (auch im Sport)… …   Das Herkunftswörterbuch

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