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dilettante - 5 dictionary results

dil⋅et⋅tante

  [dil-i-tahnt, dil-i-tahnt, -tahn-tey, -tan-tee] noun, plural -tantes, -tan⋅ti  [-tahn-tee] , adjective
Use dilettante in a Sentence
–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 dēlectāre to delight

Related forms:
dil⋅et⋅tan⋅tish, dil⋅et⋅tan⋅te⋅ish, adjective

Synonyms:
1. amateur.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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dil·et·tante   (dĭl'ĭ-tänt', dĭl'ĭ-tänt', -tän'tē, -tānt', -tān'tē)   
n.   pl. dil·et·tantes also dil·et·tan·ti (-tän'tē, -tān'-)
  1. A dabbler in an art or a field of knowledge. See Synonyms at amateur.
  2. 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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Dilettante

Dil`et*tan"te\, n.; pl. Dilettanti. [It., prop. p. pr. of dillettare to take delight in, fr. L. delectare to delight. See Delight, v. t.] An admirer or lover of the fine arts; popularly, an amateur; especially, one who follows an art or a branch of knowledge, desultorily, or for amusement only.

The true poet is not an eccentric creature, not a mere artist living only for art, not a dreamer or a dilettante, sipping the nectar of existence, while he keeps aloof from its deeper interests. --J. C. Shairp.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : dilettante
Spanish: aficionado, amateur,
German: der, *die Amateur(in),
Japanese: アマチュア
More Translations »

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.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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