dilettante

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Related to dilettante: dilettantish

dil·et·tante

(dĭl′ĭ-tänt′, dĭl′ĭ-tänt′, -tănt′)

n. pl. dil·et·tantes also dil·et·tan·ti (-tän′tē)

1. One who dabbles in an art or a field of knowledge.

2. Archaic A lover of the fine arts.

adj.

Superficial; amateurish.

[Italian, lover of the arts, from present participle of dilettare, to delight, from Latin dēlectāre; see delight.]

dil′et·tan′tish adj.

dil′et·tan′tism n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dilettante

(ˌdɪlɪˈtɑːntɪ)

n, pl -tantes or -tanti (-ˈtɑːntɪ)

1. a person whose interest in a subject is superficial rather than professional

2. (Art Terms) a person who loves the arts

adj

(Art Terms) of or characteristic of a dilettante

[C18: from Italian, from dilettare to delight, from Latin dēlectāre]

ˌdiletˈtantish, ˌdiletˈtanteish adj

ˌdiletˈtantism, ˌdiletˈtanteism n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

dil•et•tante

(ˈdɪl ɪˌtɑnt, ˌdɪl ɪˈtɑnt, -ˈtɑn teɪ, -ˈtæn ti)

n., pl. -tantes, -tan•ti (-ˈtɑn ti)

adj. n.

1. a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, esp. in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler.

2. a lover of an art or science.

adj.

3. of or characteristic of dilettantes.

[1725–35; < Italian]

dil`et•tan′tish, dil`et•tan′te•ish, adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	dilettante - an amateur who engages in an activity without serious intentions and who pretends to have knowledge dabbler, sciolist amateur - someone who pursues a study or sport as a pastime
Adj.	1.	dilettante - showing frivolous or superficial interest; amateurish; "his dilettantish efforts at painting" dilettanteish, dilettantish, sciolistic superficial - concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; not deep or penetrating emotionally or intellectually; "superficial similarities"; "a superficial mind"; "his thinking was superficial and fuzzy"; "superficial knowledge"; "the superficial report didn't give the true picture"; "only superficial differences"

dilettante

noun amateur, aesthete, dabbler, trifler, nonprofessional The sailing elite considered him a rank amateur, a dilettante.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

dilettante

noun

One lacking professional skill and ease in a particular pursuit:

amateur, dabbler, nonprofessional, smatterer, uninitiate.

adjective

Lacking the required professional skill:

amateurish, dilettantish, nonprofessional, unprofessional, unskilled, unskillful.

Translations

Dilettant dilettantisch

ντιλετάντης

dilettante

dilettánsműkedvelő

dilettante amatore

amateur liefhebber

dilettant

дилетант

dilettante

[ˌdɪlɪˈtæntɪ] N (dilettantes or dilettanti (pl)) [ˌdɪlɪˈtæntɪ] → diletante mf

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dilettante

[ˌdɪləˈtænti] [dilettantes or dilettanti] (pl) n → dilettante mf

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

dilettante

n pl <dilettanti> → Amateur(in) m(f), → Dilettant(in) m(f); (Art) → Kunstliebhaber(in) m(f)

adj → amateurhaft, stümperhaft

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dilettante

[ˌdɪlɪˈtɑːntɪ] n → dilettante m/f

References in classic literature ?

He had dawdled over his cigar because he was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction than its realisation.

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It was unparalleled, undreamed-of, that I, Humphrey Van Weyden, a scholar and a dilettante, if you please, in things artistic and literary, should be lying here on a Bering Sea seal- hunting schooner.

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"The pensee writer is to the philosopher what the dilettante is to the artist."

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The cottage was far from that standard at present, for Lisbeth's rheumatism had forced her to give up her old habits of dilettante scouring and polishing.

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All this admitted, Newman enjoyed his journey, when once he had fairly entered the current, as profoundly as the most zealous dilettante. One's theories, after all, matter little; it is one's humor that is the great thing.

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What is to me a means of livelihood is to him the merest hobby of a dilettante. He has an extraordinary faculty for figures, and audits the books in some of the government departments.

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There was in him none of that antiquarian frivolity that we convey by the word "dilettante".

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When Rabourdin sent for him to come down and receive instructions about some particular piece of work, Phellion gave all his mind to it,--listening to every word the chief said, as a dilettante listens to an air at the Opera.

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"I really have no mind to turn into a dilettante spiritualist."

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VA, who was once the kept lover of Excitable Dilettante, has gone freelance.

Dynamic duo's abusive deeds get exposed

DILETTANTE a) The dilettante is a small beetle which survives on cow manure.

Are you as smart as your kids? Try new book's questions to test your family's brainpower

For years, he was dismissed as a political dilettante who could not convert his personal popularity into significant seats in parliament for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).