amateur

noun

1. 1

   archaicA lover of something.

   he conducted extensive correspondence on wines with European suppliers, employing a wine vocabulary familiar to any modern amateur of wines.

2. 2

   A person attached to a particular pursuit, study, science, or art (such as music or painting), especially one who cultivates any study, interest, taste, or attachment without engaging in it professionally.

   The contest is only open to amateurs.

   You see, I'm not an official in any sense so I can't plead privilege and invoke the powers to back me. In the eyes of a jury I should be merely an interfering amateur—and there's such a thing as defamation.

3. 3

   Someone who is unqualified or insufficiently skillful.

   The entire thing was built by some amateurs with screwdrivers and plywood.

adjective

1. 1

   Non-professional.

2. 2

   Created, done, or populated by amateurs or non-professionals.

   amateur sports

3. 3

   Showing a lack of professionalism, experience or talent.

   Duct tape is a sure sign of amateur workmanship.

   To put that into perspective, this celebrity wedding is officially way more secure than last year’s US operation to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen, in advance of which you might recall a journalist was added to the top-level group chat by the then national security adviser. So amateur. Taylor would never.

Forms

plural

amateurs

comparative

more amateur

superlative

most amateur