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Sunday painter

American  

noun

Fine Arts.
  1. a nonprofessional painter, usually unschooled and generally painting during spare time.


Sunday painter British  

noun

  1. a person who paints pictures as a hobby

"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

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.

He was popular, but for a long time the critics condescended to him, calling him a lightweight Sunday painter and deriding him for his “matchstick” figures.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

The painting had been donated to the University of Arizona Museum in 1958 by wealthy Baltimore businessman Edward J. Gallagher Jr., a Sunday painter who vacationed in the area.

From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2022

Growing up in Lake City, Tenn., Mr. Guyton remembers how his stepfather, a Sunday painter who worked in a steel mill, did his elementary-school drawing homework for him.

From New York Times • Sep. 27, 2012

One-time seminarist, navy man, stockbroker, art collector and Sunday painter, travelling salesman, bill-poster, ceramicist, labourer, journalist and editor, Gauguin also had an eye for posterity.

From The Guardian • Sep. 27, 2010

"In the end, his art is sublime folklore and his style that of a genial Sunday painter."

From Time Magazine Archive

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