dilettante

• dilettant

From Italian dilettante, present participle of dilettare (“to delight”), from Latin dēlectāre (“to delight”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪlɪˈtænti/, /dɪləˈtɒnti/

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪlɪˌtɑnt/, /ˈdɪlɪˌtænt/, /ˌdɪlɪˈtɑnt/, /ˌdɪlɪˈtænt/, /ˌdɪlɪˈtɑnteɪ/[1][2]

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dilettante (plural dilettanti or dilettantes)

1. An amateur, someone who dabbles in a field out of casual interest rather than as a profession or serious interest.

   Synonyms: amateur, dabbler

   Antonym: professional

2. (sometimes derogatory) A person with a general but superficial interest in any art or a branch of knowledge.
   • 2008 March, Paul Graham, How to Disagree‎:

     A comment like "The author is a self-important dilettante." is really nothing more than a pretentious version of "u r a fag."

This word is derived from Italian, not from French in which the -ante ending would be feminine. It is therefore correct for a person of any gender.

• dilettantish, dilettanteish
• dilettantism, dilettanteism

• delectable
• delight
• dildo (by way of 'diletto')

• amateur

dilettante (comparative more dilettante, superlative most dilettante)

1. Pertaining to or like a dilettante.

• A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H. W. Fowler (1926; Oxford at the Clarendon Press; London: w:Humphrey Milford), page 115
  dilettante. Pl. -ti (pron. -tē).
• dilettante” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
• “dilettante”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “dilettante”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• IPA^(key): /di.lɛ.tɑ̃t/, /di.le.tɑ̃t/

• Audio

  (file)

dilettante m or f (plural dilettantes)

1. dilettante

• “dilettante”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

dilettante (plural dilettantes)

1. dilettante

From dilettare (“to delight”).

• IPA^(key): /di.letˈtan.te/
• Rhymes: -ante
• Hyphenation: di‧let‧tàn‧te

dilettante m or f by sense (plural dilettanti)

1. amateur
2. dilettante

• → English: dilettante
• → German: Dilettant

dilettante (plural dilettanti)

1. amateur

• dilettevole