apprentice

[ uh-pren-tis ]

See synonyms for: apprentice apprenticed apprenticing apprenticeship on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person who works for another in order to learn a trade: an apprentice to a plumber.
History/Historical. a person legally bound through indenture to a master craftsman in order to learn a trade.

a learner; novice; tyro.
U.S. Navy. an enlisted person receiving specialized training.
a jockey with less than one year's experience who has won fewer than 40 races.

verb (used with object),ap·pren·ticed, ap·pren·tic·ing.

to bind to or place with an employer, master craftsman, or the like, for instruction in a trade.

verb (used without object),ap·pren·ticed, ap·pren·tic·ing.

to serve as an apprentice: He apprenticed for 14 years under a master silversmith.

Origin of apprentice

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English ap(p)rentis, from Anglo-French, Old French ap(p)rentiz, from unattested Vulgar Latin apprenditīcius, equivalent to unattested apprendit(us) (for Latin apprehēnsus; see apprehensible) + Latin -īcius suffix forming adjectives from past participles, here nominalized

Other words from apprentice

ap·pren·tice·ship, noun
un·ap·pren·ticed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use apprentice in a sentence

Likewise the English immigrant John is 11 when he goes off to be apprenticed.
She Who Came After Tolkien, Before Rowling | John Garth | August 31, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Moriyama, among the photographers most widely exhibited in the U.S., had apprenticed to both Hosoe and Tomatsu.
Photography that Provokes | Philip Gefter | October 15, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
Jessica, a pro-domme in her late twenties, apprenticed at a dungeon before striking out on her own.
Kinkonomics | Tracy Quan | February 3, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
They gave him a University education, and afterwards apprenticed him to the law.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland | Joseph Tatlow
They refused to make one who had been lawfully apprenticed to the trade in Shrewsbury free of their company.
The Influence and Development of English Gilds | Francis Aiden Hibbert

Surely she must have been one of the angels fallen from Heaven and apprenticed in Hell!
A German Pompadour | Marie Hay
At last the father yielded, and the son was apprenticed to a painter,--a degradation in the eyes of Mediaeval aristocracy.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume VI | John Lord
To be apprenticed then was to be absolutely indentured; to belong to the master for a term of years.
Steam Steel and Electricity | James W. Steele

British Dictionary definitions for apprentice

apprentice

/ (əˈprɛntɪs) /

noun

someone who works for a skilled or qualified person in order to learn a trade or profession, esp for a recognized period
any beginner or novice

verb

(tr) to take, place, or bind as an apprentice

Origin of apprentice

C14: from Old French aprentis, from Old French aprendre to learn, from Latin apprehendere to apprehend

Derived forms of apprentice

apprenticeship, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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