Among the ancient Romans, a novice (novicius) was usually a newly enslaved person, who had to be trained in his or her duties. Among Catholics and Buddhists, if you desire to become a priest, monk, or nun, you must serve as a novice for a period of time, often a year (called your novitiate), before being ordained or fully professing your vows. No matter what kind of novice you are—at computers, at writing, at politics, etc.—you've got a lot to learn.
Novices serve time as scullery serfs as they work toward the privilege of trailing a pastry chef …—Guy Trebay, New York Times, 4 Sept. 2002For the novice, walking the course also means being scared senseless by all the possibilities to screw up.—Tim Keown, ESPN, 17 Sept. 2001Yet it's obvious to him and everyone else who the novice is here, the book-learned tournament virgin.—James McManus, Harper's, December 2000Much defter than one would have thought possible from the length of her fingernails, Toula had no fear of high fast notes; her flair, mounted between Andrea's perfectionist reserve and Alice's novice awkwardness, seemed all too displayed.—John Updike, The Afterlife, 1994
He's a novice in cooking.
a book for the novice chess player
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And given the ease of using the phishing toolkits, even technical novices can create a legitimate-looking login page and a proxy server.—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 1 May 2025 But where one is fluent in the language of entertainment, the other now seated at the table is a novice in an industry that’s fraught with shady practices and constant change.—Shirley Halperin, HollywoodReporter, 16 Apr. 2025 Recently re-branded from Fierce Grace, the studio has a fresh new look and energy, perfect for novices and hot yoga enthusiasts to work out in locations like NoMad, Lower East Side, Harlem, and the Financial District.—Rana Good, Forbes.com, 15 Apr. 2025 In advance of his return to South Florida, Drucker, 41, answered a few questions about his life playing video games, some for the novice and some for the hardcore fans.—Ben Crandell, Sun Sentinel, 12 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for novice
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French, "probationer in a religious community" (continental Old French also, "inexperienced person"), borrowed from Late Latin novīcius, going back to Latin, "newly enslaved person, person recently entered into a condition," as adjective, "newly imported, recently discovered, fashionable," from novus "new" + -īcius-itious — more at new entry 1
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