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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tinkerer
The 19th-century patent system rewarded tinkerers; corporate labs scaled systematic research; wartime partnerships mobilized national resources; and venture capital democratized risk-taking.
—
David H. Hsu,
Fortune,
11 May 2026
Unlike her earlier Fame Monster remixes, which served utilitarian club fodder to capitalize on her debut, Dawn delightfully surrendered its source material to a wise cast of pop, rap, and dance tinkerers like Ashnikko and Dorian Electra.
—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
4 May 2026
The Mac mini has become a status symbol among AI tinkerers, and some analysts say the device’s growing popularity may preface a broader shift in how people use computers.
—
Cnn.com Wire Service,
Mercury News,
10 Apr. 2026
Woo has always been a builder, a tinkerer, a fixer.
—
IEEE Spectrum,
1 Apr. 2026
Cronenworth has always been quite the worker and quite the tinkerer in the cage.
—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
9 Mar. 2026
Rather than targeting end users, the company aims to empower developers, researchers, and tinkerers to create breakthrough humanoid applications without building full robots from scratch.
—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
28 Jan. 2026
Dedicated sports engineers and tinkerers alike continue to fine tune specialized skate designs.
—
Mark Hay,
Popular Science,
28 Jan. 2026
Blanc, who lived in Des Moines, Iowa, wasn’t the first tinkerer to try unclogging drains by running a cable through pipes.
—
Alexander Coolidge,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
7 Jan. 2026
David H. Hsu,
Fortune,
11 May 2026
Unlike her earlier Fame Monster remixes, which served utilitarian club fodder to capitalize on her debut, Dawn delightfully surrendered its source material to a wise cast of pop, rap, and dance tinkerers like Ashnikko and Dorian Electra.
—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
4 May 2026
The Mac mini has become a status symbol among AI tinkerers, and some analysts say the device’s growing popularity may preface a broader shift in how people use computers.
—
Cnn.com Wire Service,
Mercury News,
10 Apr. 2026
Woo has always been a builder, a tinkerer, a fixer.
—
IEEE Spectrum,
1 Apr. 2026
Cronenworth has always been quite the worker and quite the tinkerer in the cage.
—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
9 Mar. 2026
Rather than targeting end users, the company aims to empower developers, researchers, and tinkerers to create breakthrough humanoid applications without building full robots from scratch.
—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
28 Jan. 2026
Dedicated sports engineers and tinkerers alike continue to fine tune specialized skate designs.
—
Mark Hay,
Popular Science,
28 Jan. 2026
Blanc, who lived in Des Moines, Iowa, wasn’t the first tinkerer to try unclogging drains by running a cable through pipes.
—
Alexander Coolidge,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
7 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tinkerer
Noun
-
Bobby Jones becomes the first amateur in 29 years to win the British Open.
-
The current entry system for amateurs, which includes not only high schoolers but also international players who sign at 16, is hardly a model of economic efficiency.
Noun
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The surge in demand for Beyblade has seen hobbyists lining up outside toy shops in Taiwan and Hong Kong, with some traveling as far as Japan to get their hands on the rarest models, which are being resold for up to $80 by scalpers online, 10 times more than the original price.
-
But most such fishers in Destin are hobbyists.
Noun
-
In the United States, the layman can do this any day of the week, especially Saturday, if the weather is nice.
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What may shock the layman, though, is that all three of those schools also have strong baseball programs as well.
Noun
-
In 1937, Stalin, himself a former dabbler in the language, reversed course on Esperanto and herded its speakers into gulags on account of its internationalist appeal.
-
Some CEOs are using tokens to track how their teams are deploying AI, from the productive tokenmaxers overhauling their departments to the tone-deaf dabblers squandering compute on useless projects.
Cite this Entry
“Tinkerer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tinkerer. Accessed 26 Jun. 2026.
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