An amateur is someone who does something as a hobby and not as a job.
Jerry is an amateur who dances because he feels like it.
Taylor began his playing career as an amateur goalkeeper.
Synonyms: nonprofessional, outsider, layperson, or woman">layman or woman More Synonyms of amateur
2. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
Amateur sports or activities are done by people as a hobby and not as a job.
...the local amateur dramatics society.
At college he studied English and did amateur boxing.
More Synonyms of amateur
amateur in British English
(ˈæmətə, -tʃə, -ˌtjʊə, ˌæməˈtɜː)
noun
1.
a person who engages in an activity, esp a sport, as a pastime rather than professionally or for gain
2.
an athlete or sportsperson
3.
a person unskilled in or having only a superficial knowledge of a subject or activity
4.
a person who is fond of or admires something
5. (modifier)
consisting of or for amateurs
an amateur event
adjective
6.
amateurish; not professional or expert
an amateur approach
Derived forms
amateurism (ˈamateurism)
noun
Word origin
C18: from French, from Latin amātor lover, from amāre to love
amateur in American English
(ˈæmətʃər; ˈæməˌtʃʊr; ˈæməˌtɜr; ˈæmətər)
noun
1.
a person who engages in some art, science, sport, etc. for the pleasure of it rather than for money; a nonprofessional; specif., an athlete who is variously forbidden by rule to profit from athletic activity
2.
a person who does something without professional skill
3.
a person who is somewhat unskillful
adjective
4.
of or done by an amateur or amateurs
5.
being an amateur or made up of amateurs
6.
amateurish
SYNONYMY NOTE: amateur refers to one who does something for the pleasure of it rather than for pay and oftenimplies a relative lack of skill; a , dilettante is an amateur in the arts, but the word is also applied disparagingly to a superficialdabbler in the arts; , novice, neophyte refer to one who is a beginner, hence inexperienced, in some activity, , neophyte carrying additional connotations of youthful enthusiasm; , tyro refers to an inexperienced but self-assertive beginner and generally connotes incompetence
OPPOSITES: professional, expert
Word origin
Fr < L amator, lover < pp. of amare, to love
Examples of 'amateur' in a sentence
amateur
All the savagely planned words suddenly seemed amateur, naïve.
Robert Wilson THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS (2002)
It makes Robert Redford, whom he resembles slightly, look like an amateur.
Val McDermid KICK BACK (2002)
He worked with great care, pretty fast for an amateur, with minimal noise.
José Latour HAVANA BEST FRIENDS (2002)
In other languages
amateur
British English: amateur /ˈæmətə; -tʃə; -ˌtjʊə; ˌæməˈtɜː/ NOUN
An amateur is someone who does a particular activity as a hobby, not as a job.
He continued racing for another year as an amateur.
American English: amateur
Arabic: هَاوٍ
Brazilian Portuguese: amador
Chinese: 业余爱好者
Croatian: amater
Czech: amatér
Danish: amatør
Dutch: amateur
European Spanish: aficionado
Finnish: amatööri
French: amateur
German: Amateur
Greek: ερασιτέχνης
Italian: dilettante
Japanese: アマチュア
Korean: 아마추어
Norwegian: amatør
Polish: amator
European Portuguese: amador
Romanian: amator
Russian: любитель
Latin American Spanish: aficionado
Swedish: amatör
Thai: มือสมัครเล่น
Turkish: amatör
Ukrainian: любитель
Vietnamese: người nghiệp dư
British English: amateur ADJECTIVE
Amateur sports or activities are done by people as a hobby and not as a job.