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apprentice

[uh-pren-tis]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR apprentice ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

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discipline, information, direction, guidance, training, schooling, preparation, teaching, lesson, trial, instruction, culture, cultivation, learning, reading, tutoring, coaching, literacy, scholarship, science

Origin of apprentice

1300–50; Middle English ap(p)rentis < Anglo-French, Old French ap(p)rentiz < Vulgar Latin *apprenditīcius, equivalent to *apprendit(us) (for Latin apprehēnsus; see apprehensible) + Latin -īcius suffix forming adjectives from past participles, here nominalized
Related formsap·pren·tice·ship, nounun·ap·pren·ticed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for apprenticeship

Contemporary Examples of apprenticeship

  • This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship.

    The Daily Beast logo
    'We Will Recover'

    Barack Obama

    February 25, 2009

Historical Examples of apprenticeship

  • At the expiration of his apprenticeship, in 1832, he came to Ohio.

  • As far as I can make out the period of apprenticeship is much too long.

    Changing Winds

    St. John G. Ervine

  • Of his apprenticeship, and the first years of his career, no records exist.

  • Elsie smiled, and disclaimed any intention of apprenticeship.

    Cap'n Eri

    Joseph Crosby Lincoln

  • He liked the work just as little as he had in the beginning of his apprenticeship.

    The Portygee

    Joseph Crosby Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for apprenticeship

apprentice

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
Derived Formsapprenticeship, noun

Word Origin for apprentice

C14: from Old French aprentis, from Old French aprendre to learn, from Latin apprehendere to apprehend
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
Word Origin and History for apprenticeship
n.

1590s, from apprentice (n.) + -ship. Replaced earlier apprenticehood (late 14c., with -hood).

apprentice

n.

c.1300, from Old French aprentiz "someone learning" (13c., Modern French apprenti, taking the older form as a plural), also as an adjective, "unskilled, inexperienced," from aprendre (Modern French apprendre) "to learn; to teach," contracted from Latin apprehendere (see apprehend). Shortened form prentice long was more usual in English.

apprentice

v.

1630s, from apprentice (n.). Related: Apprenticed; apprenticing.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper