apprenticeship
Americannoun
-
a program or position in which someone learns a trade by working under a certified expert.
The course provides students with a good base for securing apprenticeships in the plumbing and gasfitting industries.
-
the state or position of any learner or novice.
His apprenticeship in political struggle was gained in the Spanish Civil War.
Etymology
Origin of apprenticeship
Explanation
Apprenticeship is a kind of job training that involves following and studying a master of the trade on the job instead of in school. Carpenters, masons, doctors, and many other professionals often learn their trade through apprenticeship. The word apprenticeship comes from the Old French aprentiz meaning "someone learning" and the Anglian suffix -scip, meaning "state, condition of being." An apprenticeship is when someone is in a state or condition of learning from a master in a field. Some professions even have apprenticeship programs like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers where you can be assigned to apprentice, or study under a professional electrician.
Vocabulary lists containing apprenticeship
"Creativity at Work" and "The Hidden Secrets of the Creative Mind"
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The State of the Union Address 2015
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Obama's State of the Union Address, 2014
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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.
These languages can often serve as great apprenticeship languages, teaching us how to learn a language and about grammatical structures.
From Science Daily • May 22, 2026
"We offer hundreds of established apprenticeship and training schemes in broadcast and related areas, and now we are investing in the next generation of talented creators."
From BBC • May 14, 2026
“There’s not a person in the world that has had that type of three-decade apprenticeship with someone of that stature,” O’Rourke told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch • May 1, 2026
From 1754 to 1758, he served his military apprenticeship against the French and their Native American allies on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 27, 2026
“Have you had any training, an apprenticeship in the mortuary profession?”
From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe
Definitions 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.
