dilettante Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun an amateur who engages in an activity without serious intentions and who pretends to have knowledge
dabbler; sciolist.
adjective satellite showing frivolous or superficial interest; amateurish
sciolistic; dilettantish; dilettanteish.
- his dilettantish efforts at painting

It., prop. p. pr. of dillettare to take delight in, fr. L. delectare to delight. See Delight, v. t.

plural Dilettanti

An admirer or lover of the fine arts; popularly, an amateur; especially, one who follows an art or a branch of knowledge, desultorily, or for amusement only.
The true poet is not an eccentric creature, not a mere artist living only for art, not a dreamer or a dilettante, sipping the nectar of existence, while he keeps aloof from its deeper interests. J. C. Shairp.