as in amateur
lacking or showing a lack of expert skill
many dilettante efforts could be seen at the sidewalk art show
Synonyms & Similar Words
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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 events give youth amateur boxers from the city's 22 boxing gyms a chance to show their skills in a competitive atmosphere.
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And injecting college baseball with top high school talent likely would lead to greater attention for the amateur draft and the game overall.
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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It was rediscovered in the late 1990s, but was forgotten again until scholars and advocates pushed for its preservation years later, according to the association.
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But the outcome, according to scholars, is a clearer, tighter, and more defensible argument.
Adjective
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The subtext beneath that statement is that Syd recognizes why Tina might be loath to take orders from a boss who is younger and, relative to Carmy, inexperienced in the business.
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Army investigations have repeatedly pointed to the same factors contributing to fatal training incidents including sleep deprivation, inadequate training and inexperienced leaders supervising high-risk exercises.
Noun
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Despite owning the winery and another vineyard in California, Soloviev wasn’t a connoisseur.
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Tote bag connoisseurs once again celebrated Trader Joe's latest product drop.
Noun
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The Orange Walk put on by devotees of the Netherlands national team — and more than a few locals joining in for fun — was a party from start to finish, and everyone was involved.
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Pickleball devotees will be happy to know there is an outdoor court; golf putting greens, shuffleboard, and lawn games like cornhole line the top deck, too.
Cite this Entry
“Dilettante.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dilettante. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.
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