as in amateur
a person who regularly or occasionally engages in an activity as a pastime rather than as a profession the discussion about investing was geared more to the layman than to the professional investor

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of layman In layman’s terms: Make your business too real to ignore. Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 25 July 2025 What transpires is a film bursting at the seams with heart, adored by laymen and critics alike. Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 25 July 2025 Two decades later, his book The Art of Prehistoric Man was that rare anomaly: praised by his fellow archaeologists and read by laymen. Nicole Krauss, The Atlantic, 6 July 2025 The duel did not happen because a Parisian layman’s jury ruled that Drayton couldn’t legally say he was impugned by Mr. Borrowe, so Drayton instead fled Europe by buying passage on the steamship Majestic at Liverpool. Alexis Nedd, IndieWire, 2 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for layman
Recent Examples of Synonyms for layman
Noun
  • Even if reaching the fairway on the par-5 13th from the tee, amateurs still face 390 yards to the green for the second shot.
    Scott Kramer, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
  • Clay was an 18-year-old amateur then, the Louisville golden boy who’d already captured eight regional Golden Gloves and two nationals.
    Vann R. Newkirk II, The Atlantic, 16 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • The tinkerer was a socialite and widow named Josephine Cochrane.
    Jeremy Lott, The Washington Examiner, 12 Sep. 2025
  • His uncle Leo, a naval engineer, noticed that his nephew was a budding tinkerer and gave him a Kodak photo-chemistry set for his sixth birthday.
    Chris Wiley, New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2025

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“Layman.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/layman. Accessed 22 Sep. 2025.

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