dilettante
noun
dil·et·tante
| \ ˈdi-lə-ˌtänt
, -ˌtant; ˌdi-lə-ˈtänt, -ˈtant\
, -ˌtant; ˌdi-lə-ˈtänt, -ˈtant\
plural dilettantes
or dilettanti\ ˌdi-lə-ˈtän-tē
, -ˈtan-tē \
, -ˈtan-tē \
Definition of dilettante
1
: a person having a superficial interest in an art or a branch of knowledge : dabbler
2
: an admirer or lover of the arts
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Other Words from dilettante
dilettante
adjective
dilettantish
\ ˈdi-lə-ˌtän-tish
, -ˌtan- , ˌdi-lə-ˈtän- , -ˈtan- \
adjective
, -ˌtan- , ˌdi-lə-ˈtän- , -ˈtan- \
adjective
dilettantism
\ ˈdi-lə-ˌtän-ˌti-zəm
, -ˌtan- , ˌdi-lə-ˈtän
, -ˈtan- \
noun
, -ˌtan- , ˌdi-lə-ˈtän
, -ˈtan- \
noun
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
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Recent Examples on the Web
Moore is the real power in this power couple and doesn’t need her husband, who is less of an auteur and more of a dilettante, to get her roles. — Kerry Lengel, azcentral, "Review: ‘After the Wedding’ serves as an acting showcase for its star-studded cast," 15 Aug. 2019 Built between 1740 and 1800, West Wycombe Park was conceived as a pleasure palace for the 18th century libertine and dilettante Sir Francis Dashwood, 2nd Baronet. — Sarah Bray, Town & Country, "What It's Really Like to Get Married at Downton Abbey," 30 July 2019 The more Kennedy pressed, depicting McCarthy as a racially insensitive dilettante who didn’t really want to be President, a man who was taking advantage of his volunteers, the more Sylvester and Branch dug in. — David Margolick, The New Yorker, "The Campaign Volunteer Whose Brilliance Haunted Robert F. Kennedy," 7 June 2019 From my point of view — that of a dilettante — this is a bad PR move and not a lot more. — Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, "Elon Musk doesn’t respect the SEC, which is still investigating Tesla," 14 Dec. 2018 In the interest of time I would be privately tutored to become a dilettante butler by Christopher Ely, who had been, among other things, a butler at Buckingham Palace and was heading up FCI's Estate Management Studies program. — Jonathan Reynolds, Town & Country, "At Your Service," 11 July 2014 In terms of practice and playing, Curry is a golf dilettante. — Scott Ostler, SFChronicle.com, "Passion for golf has been with Stephen Curry since an early age," 12 July 2018 This was an amateur move, critics sniffed; the flailing of a dilettante out of his depth. — Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, "The Benefits and Risks of Trump’s Dazzle," 28 May 2018 Ferry and his bandmates were cast as dilettantes rather than dues-paying musicians, who conflated songs with showmanship, art with artifice. — Greg Kot, chicagotribune.com, "Roxy Music: Still mind-blowing, still overlooked," 22 Feb. 2018These 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.
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More Definitions for dilettante
dilettante
noun
English Language Learners Definition of dilettante
: a person whose interest in an art or in an area of knowledge is not very deep or serious
See the full definition for dilettante in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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