tinkerer

as in amateur
a person who regularly or occasionally engages in an activity as a pastime rather than as a profession he's been tinkering with cars since he was a kid, and now he's a tinkerer who knows nearly as much as a mechanic

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tinkerer
Noun
  • Oh, and by the way, the Aztecs’ Justin Hastings was low amateur at the U.S. Open.
    Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 June 2025
  • In 2024, Clanton became the first amateur to finish top-10 in four PGA Tour events in one year since Jack Nicklaus in 1961, and was runner-up at the John Deere Classic and the RSM Classic.
    Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 21 June 2025
Noun
  • The immaculate print appeared to this layman’s eye to look about as sharp as contemporary digital Imax, but with the celluloid origins and print adding additional richness.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 30 Apr. 2025
  • The Papal Gentlemen—laymen who attend to the Pope’s private needs and aid in his displays of hospitality and diplomacy—acted as pallbearers in black suits, carrying the unadorned wooden casket that held Francis’s body.
    Vinson Cunningham, New Yorker, 27 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • David Byrne came from Baltimore by way of Scotland, a socially awkward dabbler in conceptualist experiments with photography and a veteran of various mediocre cover bands.
    Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 17 June 2025
  • Where Sun is a dabbler, Geffen is an established connoisseur.
    Rachel Corbett, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Tinkerer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tinkerer. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.

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