amateur

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: am=a=teur

CIDE DICTIONARY

amateur, n. [F., fr. L. amator lover, fr. amare to love.].

 A person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science as to music or painting; esp. one who cultivates any study or art, from taste or attachment, without pursuing it professionally.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

amateur, n.
1 a person who engages in a pursuit (e.g. an art or sport) as a pastime rather than a profession.
2 (attrib.) for or done by amateurs ( amateur athletics).
3 (foll. by of) a person who is fond of (a thing).

Derivative

amateurism n.

Etymology

F f. It. amatore f. L amator -oris lover f. amare love

THESAURUS

amateur

Sunday painter, abecedarian, admirer, aesthete, aficionado, amateurish, apprentice, arbiter, arbiter elegantiarum, arbiter of taste, authority, avocational, beginner, bon vivant, booster, buff, bungler, bungling, clumsy, cognoscente, collector, connaisseur, connoisseur, coquet, crank, critic, criticaster, crude, dabbler, dabbling, dabster, dallier, devotee, dilettante, dilettantish, enthusiast, epicure, epicurean, expert, faddist, fan, fancier, flirt, follower, freak, fribble, good judge, gourmand, gourmet, grammaticaster, greenhorn, groupie, half scholar, half-assed, half-baked, half-cocked, idolater, idolizer, immature, inexpert, infatuate, inferior, judge, lay, layman, maven, mediocre, neophyte, nonprofessional, novice, nut, philologaster, philosophaster, piddler, potterer, probationer, pundit, putterer, refined palate, rooter, savant, scholar, sciolist, sciolistic, second-rate, shallow, smatterer, smattering, sophomoric, specialist, superficial, technical expert, technician, tinker, trifler, tyro, unpaid, unprofessional, unskilled, untrained, virtuoso, votary, worshiper, zealot

ROGET THESAURUS

amateur

Bungler

N bungler, blunderer, blunderhead, marplot, fumbler, lubber, duffer, dauber, stick, bad hand, poor hand, poor shot, butterfingers, no conjurer, flat, muff, slow coach, looby, lubber, swab, clod, yokel, awkward squad, blanc-bec, galoot, land lubber, fresh water sailor, fair weather sailor, horse marine, fish out of water, ass in lion's skin, jackdaw in peacock's feathers, quack, lord of misrule, sloven, slattern, trapes, amateur, novice, greenhorn (learner), il n'a pas invente' la poudre, he will never set the Thames on fire, acierta errando, aliquis in omnibus nullus in singulis.

Taste

N taste, good taste, refined taste, cultivated taste, delicacy, refinement, fine feeling, gust, gusto, tact, finesse, nicety, to prepon, polish, elegance, grace, judgment, discernment, dilettantism, dilettanteism, virtu, fine art, culture, cultivation, aesthetics, man of taste, connoisseur, judge, critic, conoscente, virtuoso, amateur, dilettante, Aristarchus, Corinthian, arbiter elegantiarum, stagirite, euphemist, caviare to the general, in good taste, cute, tasteful, tasty, unaffected, pure, chaste, classical, attic, cultivated, refined, dainty, esthetic, aesthetic, artistic, elegant, euphemistic, to one's taste, to one's mind, after one's fancy, comme il faut, tire a quatre epingles, elegantly, nihil tetigit quod non ornavit, chacun a son gout, oculi pictura tenentur aures cantibus, taste, flavor, gust, gusto, savor, gout, relish, sapor, sapidity, twang, smack, smatch, aftertaste, tang, tasting, degustation, gustation, palate, tongue, tooth, stomach, sapid, saporific, gustable, gustatory, gustful, strong, gamy, palatable.

Desire

N desire, wish, fancy, fantasy, want, need, exigency, mind, inclination, leaning, bent, animus, partiality, penchant, predilection, propensity, willingness, liking, love, fondness, relish, longing, hankering, inkling, solicitude, anxiety, yearning, coveting, aspiration, ambition, vaulting ambition, eagerness, zeal, ardor, empressement, breathless impatience, overanxiety, impetuosity, appetite, appetition, appetence, appetency, sharp appetite, keenness, hunger, stomach, twist, thirst, thirstiness, drouth, mouthwatering, itch, itching, prurience, cacoethes, cupidity, lust, concupiscence, edge of appetite, edge of hunger, torment of Tantalus, sweet tooth, lickerish tooth, itching palm, longing eye, wistful eye, sheep's eye, greed, voracity, passion, rage, furore, mania, manie, inextinguishable desire, dipsomania, kleptomania, lover, amateur, votary, devotee, aspirant, solicitant, candidate, applicant, supplicant, cormorant, desideratum, want, a consummation devoutly to be wished, attraction, magnet, allurement, fancy, temptation, seduction, fascination, prestige, height of one's ambition, idol, whim, whimsy, whimsey, maggot, hobby, hobby-horse, Fortunatus's cap, wishing cap, wishing stone, wishing well, desirous, desiring, inclined, partial to, fain, wishful, optative, anxious, wistful, curious, at a loss for, sedulous, solicitous, craving, hungry, sharp-set, peckish, ravening, with an empty stomach, esurient, lickerish, thirsty, athirst, parched with thirst, pinched with hunger, famished, dry, drouthy, hungry as a hunter, hungry as a hawk, hungry as a horse, hungry as a church mouse, hungry as a bear, greedy, unsatisfied, unsated, unslaked, unsaturated, eager, avid, keen, burning, fervent, ardent, agog, all agog, breathless, impatient, bent on, intent on, set on, bent upon, intent upon, set upon, mad after, enrage, rabid, dying for, devoured by desire, aspiring, ambitious, vaulting, skyaspiring, high-reaching, desirable, desired, in demand, pleasing, appetizing, appetible, tantalizing, wistfully, fain, Int, would that, would that it were!, O for!, esto perpetual, the wish being father to the thought, sua cuique voluptas, hoc erat in votis, the mouth watering, the fingers itching, aut Caesar aut nullus, Cassius has a lean and hungry look, hungry as the grave, I was born to other things, not what we wish but what we want, such joy ambition finds, the sea hath bounds but deep desire hath none, ubi mel ibi apes.

Ignoramus

N ignoramus, dunce, wooden spoon, no scholar, (imbecility) 499 (folly) 501 moron, imbecile, idiot, fool, jerk, nincompoop, asshole, dilettante, sciolist, smatterer, dabbler, half scholar, charlatan, wiseacre, greenhorn, amateur, novice, tyro, numskull, lubber, fool, pedant, bookless, shallow, ignorant, a wit with dunces and a dunce with wits.

Learner

N learner, scholar, student, pupil, apprentice, prentice, journeyman, articled clerk, beginner, tyro, amateur, rank amateur, abecedarian, alphabetarian, alumnus, eleve, recruit, raw recruit, novice, neophyte, inceptor, catechumen, probationer, seminarian, chela, fellow-commoner, debutant, intern, resident, schoolboy, fresh, freshman, frosh, junior soph, junior, senior soph, senior, sophister, sophomore, questionist, undergraduate, graduate student, law student, medical student, pre-med, post-doctoral student, post-doc, matriculated student, part-time student, night student, auditor, class, grade, seminar, form, remove, pupilage, disciple, follower, apostle, proselyte, fellow-student, condisciple, school, in statu pupillari, in leading strings, practise makes perfect.