dilettante

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

noun

plural

dilettantes, dilettanti 

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.

Other Word Forms

• dilettantish adjective
• dilettanteish adjective
• dilettantism noun

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

"But it's not a question of someone's dilettante interest. This is actually really important to advancing people's health. And so there's a lot of .. moral distress if you can't do sex differences research," Ahmed said.

From Salon

Him and all the other dilettantes who don’t know the wonders of VistaVision.

From Los Angeles Times

She characterized those years in her autobiography as: “Desultory intellectual chitchat, drugs, hip aristocrats, languid dilettantes and high naughtiness. I knew I was on my path!”

From Los Angeles Times

And he has often been underestimated, such as when he won a majority government in 2015 at the age of 44, despite being portrayed by his political opponents as something of a dilettante.

From BBC

Crystal does fine in this environment; he doesn’t come off as a tourist or a dilettante.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• connoisseur