expert
Americannoun
-
experts
plural
-
a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field; specialist; authority.
a language expert.
- Synonyms:
- master, connoisseur
-
Military.
-
the highest rating in rifle marksmanship, above that of marksman and sharpshooter.
-
a person who has achieved such a rating.
-
adjective
-
possessing special skill or knowledge; trained by practice; skillful or skilled (often followed by in orat ).
an expert driver;
to be expert at driving a car.
- Synonyms:
- dexterous, proficient, experienced
- Antonyms:
- unskillful
-
pertaining to, coming from, or characteristic of an expert.
expert work;
expert advice.
verb (used with object)
noun
adjective
-
skilful or knowledgeable
-
of, involving, or done by an expert
an expert job
Synonym Usage
See skillful.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of expert
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Latin expertus “tried,” past participle of experīrī “to try”; cf. experience
Explanation
An expert is someone who knows a ton about the subject at hand. The adjective form of expert describes someone or something that has that special knowledge. If you get expert instruction, that means an expert is your teacher. The word expert is related to experience, and to be an expert at something you need experience. While your academic honors might suggest that you're an expert in certain areas, like rocket science, other fields — like wake boarding and tattoo art, for example — require more hands-on experience before you're an expert. The word expert is also an adjective: once you become really good at it, people will say you're an expert snake handler.
Vocabulary lists containing expert
Academic Vocabulary Toolkit 1, Words 41-50
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Words to Describe Yourself on a Resume
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Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 7
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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.
See Examples For:
Australian cyber-security expert Troy Hunt told the BBC the outage could have far-reaching consequences.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026
The Greens’ expert witnesses disputed that, but they also conceded that laetrile had no observable effect in curing leukemia.
From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2026
"It is a shame that some of the bigger European leaders aren't coming. We need Europe to be showing up strongly at this COP," Cosima Cassel, a climate diplomacy expert at think-tank E3G, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Nov. 11, 2026
The back-and-forth attacks “may look like a low-level, simmering conflict, but it’s not a stable formula,” said Ali Vaez, an Iran expert and deputy program director at the International Crisis Group.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026
“It’s just a very challenging plane geometry problem. How do we find ‘X’ without knowing ‘A’? I may need to ask an expert for help.”
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
But experts warn it can go too far and mislead prospective buyers - a trend dubbed "housefishing".
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026
It’s why experts are researching GLP-1s for animals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026
Given all that, many Medicare experts routinely recommend that beneficiaries schedule appointments with these counselors, who receive extensive training.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 12, 2026
California is also a focal point of China’s espionage efforts, some experts say, because it has the highest number of Chinese residents in the continental U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2026
This enterprise required that certain social and technical preconditions be met: the existence of reliable methods of communication, a common body of expert knowledge and an acknowledged group of experts able to adjudicate disputes.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
