| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| dilettante |
| |
| SYLLABICATION: | dil·et·tante |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  d l -tänt , dl-tänt, -tänt , -t nt, -tnt |
| NOUN: | Inflected forms: pl. dil·et·tantes also dil·et·tan·ti (-tänt, -tn-)
1. A dabbler in an art or a field of knowledge. See synonyms at amateur. 2. A lover of the fine arts; a connoisseur. | | ADJECTIVE: | Superficial; amateurish. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Italian, lover of the arts, from present participle of dilettare, to delight, from Latin dlect re. See delight. | | OTHER FORMS: | dilet·tantish —ADJECTIVE
dilet·tantism —NOUN
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
