These words are applied to a person who has some knowledge or proficiency in a certain area, but who is not an expert. Amateur usually means a person who pursues an interest, study or skill as a hobby or avocation rather than as a profession. Thus, a doctor who plays the violin in his spare time is an amateur in music, even if his playing is skilful. However, the word is sometimes used disparagingly to stress that a person’s skill, being non-professional, is not as good as it could be. If a man can’t fix a leaky tap, his wife may chide him by saying, "Oh well, you’re just an amateur !"

Dilettante means literally taking delight in and was originally applied to a person who was a lover of the arts. The word has in recent years, however, come to be associated with frivolousness and shallowness. A dilettante is a person who, though he shows interest in a field of knowledge or in an artistic skill, pursues it chiefly for enjoyment or ostentation, thus never attaining more than a superficial knowledge of it.

Dabbler is an even more disparaging term than dilettante and denotes a person who merely dips into something without serious intent or perseverance.