amateur

1. 1.

   engaged in as a pastime

   “an amateur painter”

   “gained valuable experience in amateur theatricals”

   “recreational golfers”

   “reading matter that is both recreational and mentally stimulating”

   “unpaid extras in the documentary”

   Synonymsrecreationalunpaid

   Similarnonprofessional
2. 2.

   lacking professional skill or expertise

   “a very amateurish job”

   “inexpert but conscientious efforts”

   “an unskilled painting”

   Synonymsamateurishinexpertunskilled

   Similarunprofessional

Other forms of amateur

plural

amateurs·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about amateur

What does amateur mean?

amateur means "someone who pursues a study or sport as a pastime". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in amateur?

amateur has 3 syllables: am-a-teur. The stress falls on "am". In IPA it is /ˈæməˌtɝ/.

What is another word for amateur?

Close synonyms include recreational, unpaid, amateurish, inexpert, unskilled. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of amateur?

The recorded antonyms are professional.

Is amateur a common word?

amateur is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with amateur?

5 words rhyme with amateur. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.