novice

Language: en

🇬🇧 /ˈnɒvɪs/ 🇺🇸 /ˈnɑvəs/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    A person who is new to a field, activity, or situation; a beginner with little or no experience.; A person who has entered a religious order but has not yet taken final vows; a probationary member of a religious community.; In horse racing or other competitive sports, a competitor that has not yet won a race or achieved a certain level of success.
  2. adjective
    Relating to or characteristic of a beginner; inexperienced.

🔗 Details

Word forms

countable Plural: novices

Collocations

complete novicenovice drivernovice levelrank novicenovice monk

Derivatives

novitiate

Synonyms

beginnernewcomeramateurneophytetyrogreenhorn

Antonyms

expertveteranmasterprofessional

Commonly confused

novitiate
EN: 'Novitiate' refers to the period or status of being a novice (especially in a religious order), while 'novice' refers to the person themselves.
amateur
EN: 'Amateur' emphasizes doing something without professional pay or training, while 'novice' emphasizes being new and inexperienced regardless of professional status.

Spelling tips

EN: Do not confuse 'novice' with 'notice'; remember it ends in '-ice' like 'practice' and 'service'.

💬 Examples

  1. As a novice in programming, she found the advanced tutorial too difficult to follow.

  2. The novice spent a year in contemplation before taking her final vows at the convent.

  3. The horse was entered in a novice hurdle race, having never won over fences before.

  4. His novice mistakes in the kitchen were forgiven because everyone knew he was just learning to cook.