amateur
Americannoun
-
a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons.
-
an athlete who has never competed for payment or for a monetary prize.
- Synonyms:
- nonprofessional
-
a person inexperienced or unskilled in a particular activity.
Hunting lions is not for amateurs.
- Synonyms:
- novice, tyro, dilettante
-
a person who admires something; devotee; fan.
an amateur of the cinema.
adjective
noun
-
a person who engages in an activity, esp a sport, as a pastime rather than professionally or for gain
-
an athlete or sportsman
-
a person unskilled in or having only a superficial knowledge of a subject or activity
-
a person who is fond of or admires something
-
(modifier) consisting of or for amateurs
an amateur event
adjective
Other Word Forms
- amateurism noun
- proamateur adjective
Etymology
Origin of amateur
1775–85; < French, Middle French < Latin amātor lover, equivalent to amā- (stem of amāre to love) + -tor -tor, replaced by French -teur (< Latin -tōr-, oblique stem of -tor ); -eur
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But when unpaid amateurs climb together, things becomes murkier.
From BBC
A Turkish amateur footballer has gone viral for saving a seagull's life with CPR after it was struck down during an Istanbul match.
From Barron's
Taylor has been boxing for more of her life than she hasn't, taking up the sport aged 12 and making her amateur debut in 2001.
From BBC
The controversy over Lifetouch was caused by an army of amateur detectives looking for hidden links in the Epstein files.
His heroics sent the Americans to a thrilling, 2-1 victory over Canada, 46 years to the day since a ragtag bunch of amateurs upset the Soviet Union in the Miracle on Ice.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
