dilettante

• dilettant

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

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

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

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

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

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^[1]:

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

   • 2024 October 31, Stephanie Amante-Ritter, “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel” (3:33 from the start), in Star Trek: Lower Decks‎^[2], season 5, episode 3, spoken by Andy Billups (Paul Scheer):

     “Call me Zack Ransom.” “And I'm Gilbert Manhandle, literary dilettante with a gambling addiction.” “Nobody's going to remember that. You can be Zandy Billups.” “Fine. But I'm still a gambling addict.”

• Contrary to common belief, this word is actually derived from Italian, not from French, in which the -ante ending would be feminine. This word is therefore correct for a person of any gender.

• 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.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “dilettante”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Borrowed from Italian dilettante.

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

• Audio:

  (file)

dilettante m or f by sense (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 m or f (plural dilettanti)

1. amateur

• dilettevole