nonprofessional

[ non-pruh-fesh-uh-nl ]
See synonyms for nonprofessional on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. not a member of or trained in a specific profession.

  2. Sports. not offering or engaged in for payment or a monetary prize; amateur: a nonprofessional league; a nonprofessional player.

noun
  1. a person who is not a professional.

  2. an amateur athlete.

Origin of nonprofessional

1
First recorded in 1795–1805; non- + professional

Other words from nonprofessional

  • non·pro·fes·sion·al·ism, noun

Words Nearby nonprofessional

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use nonprofessional in a sentence

  • It is more vividly brought home to us from the nonprofessional, the disinterested and involuntary testimony of secular writing.

    Preaching and Paganism | Albert Parker Fitch
  • About the races themselves there was something fascinatingly nonprofessional.

    American Adventures | Julian Street
  • For the ulceration it is useless to prescribe, because it can neither be diagnosed nor topically treated by the nonprofessional.

    Special Report on Diseases of the Horse | United States Department of Agriculture
  • Another and oftentimes fatal mistake made by the nonprofessional is the indiscriminate and reckless use of aconite.

    Special Report on Diseases of the Horse | United States Department of Agriculture
  • There was nothing more he could do at the moment—the autosurgeon's decisions were safer than any nonprofessional's guesswork.

    The Winds of Time | James H. Schmitz

British Dictionary definitions for nonprofessional

nonprofessional

/ (ˌnɒnprəˈfɛʃənəl) /


adjective
  1. not of, relating to, suitable for, or engaged in a profession

  2. not undertaken or performed for gain or by people who are paid

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