dilettante

[ dil-i-tahnt, dil-i-tahnt, -tahn-tey, -tan-tee ]

noun

, plural dil·et·tantes, dil·et·tan·ti [dil, -i-, tahn, -tee].

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

   Synonyms: amateur

2. a lover of an art or science, especially of a fine art.

adjective

1. of or relating to dilettantes.

dilettante

/ ˌdɪlɪˈtɑːntɪ /

noun

1. a person whose interest in a subject is superficial rather than professional
2. a person who loves the arts

adjective

1. of or characteristic of a dilettante

dilettante

1. Someone who is interested in the fine arts as a spectator, not as a serious practitioner. Dilettante is most often used to mean a dabbler, someone with a broad but shallow attachment to any field.

Derived Forms

• ˌdiletˈtantish, adjective
• ˌdiletˈtantism, noun

Other Words From

• dilet·tantish dilet·tante·ish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dilettante¹

1725–35; < Italian, noun use of present participle of dilettare < Latin dēlectāre to delight

Word History and Origins

Origin of dilettante¹

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

Example Sentences

Long before that, Scaife had lived the life of a dilettante.

From ProPublica

One minute they are a king, the next a murderer, a jaded dilettante, a passionate and forsaken lover.

From Washington Blade

The standard critique is that guiding companies are hauling rich, inexperienced dilettantes up the mountain who create traffic jams and make bad decisions, putting everyone at greater risk.

From Outside Online

Delivering water helps “dispel the nagging guilt of a slumming dilettante, but only a little” Hardin writes, while wondering whether it’s possible to make a difference in a place “where the devastation extends back decades.”

From Washington Post

Suggestions ranged from the dilettante purse designer played by Jennifer Coolidge in the original series to Leslie Jones, who seemed to have Samantha confused with Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

From Time

The fired host unloads on Current TV, accusing Al Gore of being a dilettante and co-owner Joel Hyatt of blackmail.

From The Daily Beast

But the director publicly clashed with Norton (calling him a “narcissistic dilettante”).

From The Daily Beast

He fully admits his chronicle of Galliano's shows from 2004 to 2010 was “the work of a dilettante.”

From The Daily Beast

I finally feel like I can call myself a writer now, rather than writing being just something I do on the side, as a dilettante.

From The Daily Beast

This deficiency in technique must even debar him from claiming any higher signification than that of a clever dilettante.

From Project Gutenberg

He had dropped in in a dilettante spirit to hear the spirited debate, and the judges were greatly honored.

From Project Gutenberg

With increase of reading we have fallen into a fireside, dilettante culture of ideas as an intellectual pleasure.

From Project Gutenberg

Do not suspect that I impose on you the task of writing letters to answer my dilettante questions.

From Project Gutenberg

I believe this to be the test to distinguish the mere dilettante from the artist of real genius.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• connoisseur