nonspecialist

noun
non·​spe·​cial·​ist | \ ˌnän-ˈspe-sh(ə-)list How to pronounce nonspecialist (audio) \
plural nonspecialists

Definition of nonspecialist

: a person who does not specialize in a particular occupation, practice, or branch of learning : a person who is not a specialist The geometry text is clear enough for the nonspecialist to understand. As always in his writing for nonspecialists, Mr. Gould draws clever connections to popular culture.— James Gleick often used before another noun a presentation geared toward nonspecialist audiences

Examples of nonspecialist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Much of the work produced today is too narrow and esoteric to interest nonspecialists. Jason Willick, WSJ, "‘How to Hide an Empire’ Review: The Greater United States," 13 Mar. 2019 These happy words require a few layers of explanation for nonspecialists. Alastair Macaulay, New York Times, "Nuggets of Ballet Wisdom From Bodies Trained by Balanchine," 13 Feb. 2018 The fight for equity in treatment for opioid addiction can feel like a multifront battle; in some cases, experts struggle just to persuade policymakers and nonspecialists that prescribing an opioid to a drug addict is a reasonable course of action. Written By Jose A. Del Real; Photographs By Ryan Christopher Jones, New York Times, "Opioid Addiction Knows No Color, but Its Treatment Does," 12 Jan. 2018 Also daunting to nonspecialists may be Kotkin’s tendency to drop the names of numerous Soviet officials who surrounded Stalin without drawing out their personalities or backgrounds. Mark Atwood Lawrence, New York Times, "A Portrait of Stalin in All His Murderous Contradictions," 19 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nonspecialist.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of nonspecialist

1779, in the meaning defined above

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