Amateur: From Doing It for Love to Not Being Very Good at It
An amateur does something for pleasure rather than money. The word has drifted, so it now also suggests clumsiness — two meanings that sit awkwardly together.
An amateur takes part in something without being paid for it: amateur football, amateur astronomy, amateur dramatics. Nothing in that definition says anything about quality, and some amateur astronomers discover comets.
But usage drifted. Calling work *amateurish* is an insult, and *rank amateur* is never a compliment. The neutral meaning survives in sport and science; the rude one has taken over everywhere else.
- Someone unpaid. *An amateur boxer.*
- An enthusiast. *A keen amateur of Renaissance music.*
- Someone unskilled (disparaging). *The repair was done by an amateur.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | amateur | An amateur, not a professional. |
| Plural | amateurs | Amateurs may enter. |
| Adjective | amateur | Amateur football. |
| Adjective (rude) | amateurish | An amateurish attempt. |
| Noun | amateurism | The end of amateurism in rugby. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The Olympics were restricted to amateurs until the 1980s.The unpaid sense, historically strict.
- Amateur astronomers found the object first.Unpaid but highly skilled.
- The whole thing looked amateurish.The judgement, not the status.
Where the word comes from
From French *amateur*, from Latin *amator*, a lover — from *amare*, to love. An amateur was originally simply someone who did a thing because they loved it, which is why the insult feels like a betrayal of the word.
Is amateur an insult?
It depends entirely on context. In sport it is a status; describing someone's work as amateur is usually criticism. Amateurish is always negative.
How is amateur pronounced?
Most commonly AM-uh-ter or AM-uh-chur in English; the French-style AM-uh-tur is also heard.