What does dilettante mean?
Word: Dilettante
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Dilettante means a person who takes up an art or subject for pleasure but never studies it seriously.
How do you spell dilettante?
Syllables: dil - et - tan - te
Tricky part: Pupils double the wrong letter. The first consonant stays single, with one l, and the doubling waits for the t.
Watch out for: dilletante, dillettante
Memory tip: See a hobby painter with one lazy l lying down and two tall t's standing like the legs of an easel.
Dilettante in a sentence
Example 1: She admits she is a dilettante in pottery, but she loves the wet clay.
Example 2: The club welcomes dilettantes as well as experienced painters.
Example 3: He read a few books on astronomy and remained a happy dilettante.
Fun Fact
It comes from an Italian verb meaning to delight. In the 1700s it was a compliment for a lover of the arts, and only later did it take on its slightly scornful tone.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
One word in this sentence is misspelt. Find it:
My brother, who is a dilettente at the guitar, spent the whole holiday practising just one famous song.
a) famous
b) dilettente
c) whole
d) practising
Show answer
b) dilettente. The syllable before the last has the a of tan.
Mingle-Mangle
The sentence hides a jumbled word. Choose the word:
Nobody would call Asha a tatneltedi: she has studied the sitar for twelve years.
a) dependant
b) dilettante
c) delegate
d) dietitian
Show answer
b) dilettante. Three t's and an l: that settles it.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word dilettante as used in the sentence:
Rohan is a dilettante in photography and picks up his camera only when he feels like it.
a) novice
b) amateur
c) professional
d) beginner
Show answer
c) professional. Someone who does it as a trained, paid career stands at the other end.
Spell-o-Spell
Read the four words. Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. apprentise 2. dilettante 3. enthusiest 4. conoisseur
a) a person with a lively interest in something
b) an expert judge of art, food or music
c) a young person learning a trade at work
d) someone who tries an art lightly, never deeply
Show answer
d) someone who tries an art lightly, never deeply. Connoisseur doubles the n, enthusiast finishes in ast, and apprentice finishes in ice.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Meera calls herself a dilettante in cooking. What does she probably mean?
a) She runs a busy restaurant kitchen daily.
b) She tries dishes now and then for fun.
c) She has trained under chefs for years.
d) She teaches food science at a college.
Show answer
b) She tries dishes now and then for fun.
2. What usually separates a dilettante from a dedicated student of an art?
a) how long and seriously they work
b) how loudly they talk about it
c) how far they live from the city
d) how much they paid for their books
Show answer
a) how long and seriously they work
