dilettante

play

noun dil·et·tante \ˈdi-lə-ˌtänt, -ˌtant; ˌdi-lə-ˈ\

Definition of dilettante

plural

dilettantes

dilettanti

play \-ˈtän-tē, -ˈtan-tē\

1 : an admirer or lover of the arts
2 : a person having a superficial interest in an art or a branch of knowledge : dabbler

dilettante

adjective

dilettantish

play \-ˌtän-tish, -ˌtan-, ˌdi-lə-ˈ\ adjective

dilettantism

play play \-ˌtän-ˌti-zəm, -ˌtan-, ˌdi-lə-ˈ\ noun

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Examples of dilettante in a Sentence

I recently spent a week in Alaska trying to learn how to be a mountaineer. I did not succeed very well, and the details are not very interesting. I finished the course (I was enrolled in a course) thinking that perhaps I am better off remaining a slightly-above-average mountain dilettante. An occasional rock climber. —Jason Lee Steorts, National Review, 18 Aug. 2008
Being a powerhouse herself in ways that make today's feminist superwomen look like dilettantes, she inevitably clashed with star directors like Maurice Tourneur and Ernst Lubitsch. —Molly Haskell, New York Times Book Review, 6 June 1999
Most of the articles published in Naval History reflect time-consuming research and investigation. The efforts are not the work of dilettantes, but of professional and semiprofessional historians. —Michael M. Bergfeld, Naval History, July/August 1997
You can always tell a true expert from a dilettante.
she writes about art not from the point of view of an artist but from that of a committed dilettante

Recent Examples of dilettante from the Web

There are many ways of seeing landscape quite as good; and none more vivid, in spite of canting dilettantes, than from a railway train.

— clara gari, Smithsonian, "This 155-mile Hike Through the Pyrenees Merges Contemporary Art with Spain’s Stunning Landscapes", 24 June 2017
Cecile Monteyne draws on the screwball comedies of the past to bring out the laughs as Julia Budder, the party's hostess and dilettante producer of the new show.

— NOLA.com, "'It's Only a Play' draws insider laughs at Le Petit Theatre", 12 June 2017
Surely not simply by picking and choosing one side or the other of these various binaries – aristocrat or democrat, unqualified lover of freedom or unrepentant slaveholder, true wine lover or snobbish dilettante.

— steve donoghue, The Christian Science Monitor, "'Jefferson' is a complex, balanced account of the Founding Father", 25 May 2017
Yet the radical democratization of music discovery made possible by streaming services has made instant stars of ambitious rap dilettantes like Lil Pump.

— by bill brownlee, kansascity, "KC concerts May 18-24: Lil Pump, Bluegrass in the Bottoms, Red Hot Chili Peppers", 16 May 2017
After gauging the reaction of many TV critics, TV lovers, and TV dilettantes to the new fantasy series American Gods, one clear pattern has emerged.

— joanna robinson, HWD, "American Gods: Everything You Need to Know About “Head Full of Snow”", 14 May 2017
After gauging the reaction of many TV critics, TV lovers, and TV dilettantes to the new fantasy series American Gods, one clear pattern has emerged.

— vanityfair.com, "American Gods Season 1 2017", 7 May 2017
In Paris in the early nineteen-eighties, two young couples cross paths: a poetic dilettante and his pedantic girlfriend and a singer in a Baroque ensemble and her computer-programmer boyfriend.

— richard brody, The New Yorker, "Le Pont des Arts", 31 Mar. 2017
Ranked-choice voting is the crack cocaine of political dilettantes — very addictive, but only the pushers get high.

— david lebedoff, Twin Cities, "David Lebedoff: 5 good reasons ranked-choice voting is flawed", 30 Mar. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dilettante'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of dilettante

Italian, from present participle of dilettare to delight, from Latin dilectare — more at delight

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First Known Use: 1748

See Words from the same year

Synonym Discussion of dilettante

amateur, dilettante, dabbler, tyro mean a person who follows a pursuit without attaining proficiency or professional status. amateur often applies to one practicing an art without mastery of its essentials a painting obviously done by an amateur; in sports it may also suggest not so much lack of skill but avoidance of direct remuneration. remained an amateur despite lucrative offers dilettante may apply to the lover of an art rather than its skilled practitioner but usually implies elegant trifling in the arts and an absence of serious commitment. had no patience for dilettantes dabbler suggests desultory habits of work and lack of persistence. a dabbler who started novels but never finished them tyro implies inexperience often combined with audacity with resulting crudeness or blundering. shows talent but is still a mere tyro