tinkerer

as in amateur
a person who regularly or occasionally engages in an activity as a pastime rather than as a profession he's been tinkering with cars since he was a kid, and now he's a tinkerer who knows nearly as much as a mechanic

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tinkerer
Noun
  • Again, once the Field School staff restrained the shark, the team of amateurs got to work quickly and efficiently, with the only mishap being a person who rubbed their fingers the wrong way against the shark skin and got an abrasion that drew a bit of blood.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 22 July 2025
  • Still, Jake Cronenworth raised an eyebrow when his phone rang during the seventh round of the 2015 amateur draft.
    Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 July 2025
Noun
  • In layman’s terms: Make your business too real to ignore.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 25 July 2025
  • In layman’s terms, your portion of the Oklo pie has just become a bit smaller.
    Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 16 July 2025
Noun
  • David Byrne came from Baltimore by way of Scotland, a socially awkward dabbler in conceptualist experiments with photography and a veteran of various mediocre cover bands.
    Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 17 June 2025
  • Where Sun is a dabbler, Geffen is an established connoisseur.
    Rachel Corbett, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2025
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.

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“Tinkerer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tinkerer. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.

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