connoisseur

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: con=nois=seur

CIDE DICTIONARY

connoisseur, n. [F. connaisseur, formerly connoisseur, fr. connaître to know, fr. L. cognoscere to become acquainted with; co- + noscere, gnoscere, to learn to know. See Know, and cf. Cognizor.].

 One well versed in any subject; a skillful or knowing person; a critical judge of any art, particulary of one of the fine arts.  [1913 Webster]
"The connoisseur is “one who knows,” as opposed to the dilettant, who only “thinks he knows.”"  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

connoisseur, n. (often foll. by of, in) an expert judge in matters of taste (a connoisseur of fine wine).

Derivative

connoisseurship n.

Etymology

F, obs. spelling of connaisseur f. pres. stem of conna{icirc}tre know + -eur -or(1): cf. reconnoitre

DEVIL DICTIONARY

connoisseur

n. A specialist who knows everything about something and nothing about anything else.
An old wine-bibber having been smashed in a railway collision, some wine was pouted on his lips to revive him. "Pauillac, 1873," he murmured and died.

THESAURUS

connoisseur

Admirable Crichton, accumulator, adept, aesthete, aficionado, amateur, annotator, arbiter, arbiter elegantiarum, arbiter of taste, artisan, artist, attache, authority, bill collector, bon vivant, buff, captious critic, carper, caviler, censor, censurer, cognoscente, collection agent, collector, commentator, commenter, connaisseur, consultant, cordon bleu, crack shot, craftsman, critic, criticaster, criticizer, critickin, criticule, dead shot, dilettante, diplomat, diplomatist, douanier, dunner, editor, elder statesman, epicure, epicurean, exciseman, experienced hand, expert, expert consultant, fan, farmer, faultfinder, freak, gatherer, good judge, gourmand, gourmet, graduate, handy man, journeyman, judge, literary critic, magpie, man of letters, marksman, maven, miser, muckraker, no slouch, nut, pack rat, politician, pro, professional, professor, proficient, pundit, refined palate, reviewer, savant, scholar, scholiast, shark, sharp, smellfungus, social critic, specialist, statesman, tax collector, technical adviser, technical expert, technician, textual critic, virtuoso

ROGET THESAURUS

connoisseur

Proficient

N proficient, expert, adept, dab, dabster, crackerjack, connoisseur, master, master hand, prima donna, first fiddle, top gun, chef de cuisine, top sawyer, protagonist, past master, mahatma, picked man, medallist, prizeman, veteran, old stager, old campaigner, old soldier, old file, old hand, man of business, man of the world, nice hand, good hand, clean hand, practiced hand, experienced eye, experienced hand, marksman, good shot, dead shot, crack shot, ropedancer, funambulist, acrobat, cunning man, conjuror, wizard, genius, mastermind, master head, master spirit, cunning blade, sharp blade, sharp fellow, jobber, cracksman, politician, tactician, strategist, pantologist, admirable Crichton, Jack of all trades, prodigy of learning.

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.

Judgment

N judgment, result, conclusion, upshot, deduction, inference, ergotism, illation, corollary, porism, moral, estimation, valuation, appreciation, judication, dijudication, adjudication, arbitrament, arbitrement, arbitration, assessment, ponderation, valorization, award, estimate, review, criticism, critique, notice, report, decision, determination, judgment, finding, verdict, sentence, decree, findings of fact, findings of law, res judicata, plebiscite, voice, casting vote, vote, opinion, good judgment, judge, umpire, arbiter, arbitrator, asessor, referee, censor, reviewer, critic, connoisseur, commentator, inspector, inspecting officer, twenty-twenty hindsight, armchair general, monday morning quarterback, judging, judicious, determinate, conclusive, on the whole, all things considered, a Daniel come to judgment, and stand a critic, hated yet caress'd, it is much easier to be critical than to be correc, la critique est aisee et l'art est difficile, nothing if not critical, O most lame and impotent conclusion.

Scholar

N scholar, connoisseur, savant, pundit, schoolman, professor, graduate, wrangler, academician, academist, master of arts, doctor, licentitate, gownsman, philosopher, master of math, scientist, clerk, sophist, sophister, linguist, glossolinguist, philologist, philologer, lexicographer, glossographer, grammarian, litterateur, literati, dilettanti, illuminati, cogniscenti, fellow, Hebraist, lexicologist, mullah, munshi, Sanskritish, sinologist, sinologue, Mezzofanti, admirable Crichton, Mecaenas, bookworm, helluo librorum, bibliophile, bibliomaniac, bluestocking, bas-bleu, bigwig, learned Theban, don, Artium Baccalaureus, Artium Magister, learned man, literary man, homo multarum literarum, man of learning, man of letters, man of education, man of genius, antiquarian, antiquary, archaeologist, sage, pedant, doctrinaire, pedagogue, Dr, Pangloss, pantologist, criminologist, schoolboy, learned, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, he was a scholar and a ripe and good one, the manifold linguist.