Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
dilettante .
Etymologies
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Examples
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He did not depreciate the labors of so-called dilettanti, who were after all lovers of knowledge, and in a study such as that of anthropology, the labors of these volunteers, or franc-tireurs, had often proved most valuable.
Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891 Various
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If we may apply to art what Goethe said of poetry we find that among its votaries there are two kinds of self-half-informed people, "dilettanti," he calls them, "he who neglects the indispensable mechanical part, and he thinks he has done enough if he shows spirituality and feeling, and he who seeks to arrive at poetry merely by mechanism in which he can acquire an artisan's readiness, and is without soul and matter."
Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
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Our objects are not those of mere dilettanti, although for my part I should blame no association which boldly inscribed "dilettanti" on its breezy flag.
Platform Monologues 1902
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Our English dilettanti would be very pathetic on the subject of the national taste, if they could hear an Italian opera half as badly sung in
Pictures from Italy 2007
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His collection in Prague, put together in the last years of the sixteenth century, constituted the ideal upon which the royal and noble dilettanti of Europe based their aspirations.
The Dragon’s Trail Joanna Pitman 2006
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His collection in Prague, put together in the last years of the sixteenth century, constituted the ideal upon which the royal and noble dilettanti of Europe based their aspirations.
The Dragon’s Trail Joanna Pitman 2006
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His collection in Prague, put together in the last years of the sixteenth century, constituted the ideal upon which the royal and noble dilettanti of Europe based their aspirations.
The Dragon’s Trail Joanna Pitman 2006
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His collection in Prague, put together in the last years of the sixteenth century, constituted the ideal upon which the royal and noble dilettanti of Europe based their aspirations.
The Dragon’s Trail Joanna Pitman 2006
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Seminars, workshops, writing groups, etc, are more the realm of the dilettanti.
Hobbyists Miss Snark 2005
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The public is of the same way of thinking; and hence its general respect for professionals and its distrust of dilettanti.
chained_bear commented on the word dilettanti
"An English critic greeted a collection of his songs by writing, 'Mr. Sor's vocal compositions have gained such favour among the higher order of musical dilettanti, that a new set of arietts from his pen causes almost as much sensation as the publication of a new novel by the author of Waverly.'"
—Glenn Kurtz, Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music (New York: Vintage Books, 2007), 67
November 3, 2008