Webster's English Dictionary

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amateur

am.a.teur \'am-*-.t*r, -*t-*r, -*-.t(y)u.(*)r, -*-.chu.(*)r, -*-ch*r\ 
   \.am-*-'t*r-ish, -'t(y)u.(*)r-\ \'am-*-.t*r-iz-*m, -*t-*-.riz-, 
   -*-.t(y)u.(*)r-.iz-, -.chu.(*)r-.iz-, -ch\ n [F, fr. L amator lover, fr. 
   amatus, pp. of amare to love] 1: DEVOTEE, ADMIRER  2: one who engages in a 
   pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rath er than as a profession 
   3: one lacking in experience and competence in an art or science 
   *-.riz-LETTANTE both imply a taste or liking for something rather than an 
   expert knowledge of it; AMATEUR often applies to one practicing an art 
   without mastery of its essentials but in sports it suggests not so clearly 
   lack of skill but avoidance of direct remuneration; DILETTANTE often 
   implies elegant trifling in the arts but may still apply simply to the 
   lover of an art rather than its skilled practitioner; DABBLER suggests 
   desultory habits of work and lack of persistence; TYRO implies inexperience 
   often combined with audacity with resulting crudeness or blundering - 
   amateur aj SYN syn DILETTANTE, DABBLER, TYRO: AMATEUR and DI