dilettante - Definitions from Dictionary.com

7 results for: dilettante

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

dil·et·tante

Audio Help [dil-i-tahnt, dil-i-tahnt, -tahn-tey, -tan-tee] Pronunciation Key noun, plural -tantes, -tan·ti

Audio Help [-tahn-tee] Pronunciation Key, adjective

–noun

1.	a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, esp. in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler.

2.	a lover of an art or science, esp. of a fine art.

–adjective

3.	of or pertaining to dilettantes.

[Origin: 1725–35; < It, n. use of prp. of dilettare < L délectāre to delight

]

—Related forms

dil·et·tan·tish, dil·et·tan·te·ish, adjective

—Synonyms 1. amateur.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
dilettante

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

dil·et·tante Audio Help (dĭl'ĭ-tänt', dĭl'ĭ-tänt', -tän'tē, -tānt', -tān'tē) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. dil·et·tantes also dil·et·tan·ti (-tän'tē, -tān'-)

A dabbler in an art or a field of knowledge. See Synonyms at amateur.
A lover of the fine arts; a connoisseur.

adj. Superficial; amateurish.

[Italian, lover of the arts, from present participle of dilettare, to delight, from Latin dēlectāre; see delight.]

dil'et·tan'tish adj., dil'et·tan'tism n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
dilettante

1733, borrowing of It. dilettante "lover of music or painting," from dilettare "to delight," from L. delectare (see delight). Originally without negative connotation, "devoted amateur," the pejorative sense emerged late 18c. by contrast with professional.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

dilettante
adjective
1.	showing frivolous or superficial interest; amateurish; "his dilettantish efforts at painting"
noun
1.	an amateur who engages in an activity without serious intentions and who pretends to have knowledge [syn: dabbler]

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
dilettante [(dil-uh-tahnt, dil-uh-tahnt)]

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.

[Chapter:] Fine Arts

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Dilettante

De*light"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Delighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Delighting.] [OE. deliten, OF. delitier, deleitier, F. d['e]lecter, fr. L. delectare to entice away, to delight (sc. by attracting or alluring), intens. of delicere to allure, delight; de- + lacere to entice, allure; cf. laqueus a snare. Cf. Delectate, Delicate, Delicious, Dilettante, Elicit, Lace.] To give delight to; to affect with great pleasure; to please highly; as, a beautiful landscape delights the eye; harmony delights the ear.

Inventions to delight the taste. --Shak.

Delight our souls with talk of knightly deeds. --Tennyson.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day Archive - Cite This Source - Share This

dilettante

dilettante was Word of the Day on September 3, 2000.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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