as in amateur
lacking or showing a lack of expert skill
many dilettante efforts could be seen at the sidewalk art show
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in tinkerer
a person who regularly or occasionally engages in an activity as a pastime rather than as a profession
a dilettante at heart, she was never willing to commit the time and effort that ballet demands
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in scholar
dated
a person having a knowledgeable and fine appreciation of the arts
she writes about art not from the point of view of an artist but from that of a committed dilettante
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dilettante
IEEE Spectrum,
4 Feb. 2022
Mark Ellwood,
Robb Report,
18 Oct. 2025
Packer and Srulovich aren’t dilettantes, either.
—
Lela London,
Forbes.com,
26 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dilettante
Adjective
Growing amounts of data and processing power mean that now even dilettante data scientists can write blog posts ( here and here) about coding your own boat-detection software.
—
IEEE Spectrum,
4 Feb. 2022
Noun
Dupre, whose family ran a ski resort stateside and who taught hospitality management at Harvard, is no hotel-owning dilettante.
—
Mark Ellwood,
Robb Report,
18 Oct. 2025
Packer and Srulovich aren’t dilettantes, either.
—
Lela London,
Forbes.com,
26 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dilettante
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dilettante
Adjective
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The award is handed out to the most outstanding amateur baseball player in the nation.
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Now in its eighteenth year, the international competition celebrates the skill and imagination of amateur and professional astrophotographers from across the world.
Noun
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Sholes, a printer and newspaper editor, was a bit of a tinkerer.
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The 19th-century patent system rewarded tinkerers; corporate labs scaled systematic research; wartime partnerships mobilized national resources; and venture capital democratized risk-taking.
Noun
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For a quarter century, Jane Calvert has been on a mission shared by few scholars of the Revolutionary War era.
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Debate over the World War I-era killings, widely seen by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century, now collides with international accusations over Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
Adjective
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Over the same period, entry-level head count at the high-intensity firms rose 12%, contradicting predictions and fears that young or inexperienced workers would be most at risk of losing their jobs to AI.
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Immer and Lois work with land stewards to find projects that make sense for eager but often inexperienced volunteers.
Noun
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And coffee connoisseurs are ready to drink the potentially dementia-dodging delicacy.
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Even the kindly Florida manatee, connoisseur of bayou seagrass, sometimes flies into a carnivorous rage, snapping up fish and gnashing them in its terrible teeth.
Noun
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Her death came seven months after devotees had marked Khadijah’s 90th birthday.
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Great news for tennis (and Royals) devotees, Wimbledon is officially underway!
Cite this Entry
“Dilettante.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dilettante. Accessed 4 Jul. 2026.
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