BEGINNER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does beginner mean? 

• BEGINNER (noun)
  The noun BEGINNER has 2 senses:

1. someone new to a field or activity

2. a person who founds or establishes some institution

  Familiarity information: BEGINNER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEGINNER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone new to a field or activity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

beginner; initiate; novice; tiro; tyro

Hypernyms ("beginner" is a kind of...):

unskilled person (a person who lacks technical training)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "beginner"):

abecedarian (a novice learning the rudiments of some subject)

apprentice; learner; prentice (works for an expert to learn a trade)

cub; greenhorn; rookie (an awkward and inexperienced youth)

landlubber; landsman; lubber (an inexperienced sailor; a sailor on the first voyage)

entrant; fledgeling; fledgling; freshman; neophyte; newbie; newcomer; starter (any new participant in some activity)

tenderfoot (an inexperienced person (especially someone inexperienced in outdoor living))

trainee (someone who is being trained)

Derivation:

begin (take the first step or steps in carrying out an action)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who founds or establishes some institution

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

beginner; father; founder; founding father

Context example:

George Washington is the father of his country

Hypernyms ("beginner" is a kind of...):

conceiver; mastermind; originator (someone who creates new things)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "beginner"):

cofounder (one of a group of founders)

coloniser; colonizer (someone who helps to found a colony)

foundress (a woman founder)

Derivation:

begin (set in motion, cause to start)

 Context examples 

His was the luck of the beginner.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It was good practice, he said, and when the beginners improved, anyone would pay.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I shall come on purpose to encourage a young beginner.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

In this randomized controlled trial, 60 older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD), a condition that may represent a preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease, were assigned to either a beginner meditation or music listening program and asked to practice 12 minutes/day for 12 weeks.

(Meditation, Music May Help Reverse Early Memory Loss in Adults, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

When he had copied the article a second time and rolled it up carefully, he read in a newspaper an item on hints to beginners, and discovered the iron law that manuscripts should never be rolled and that they should be written on one side of the paper.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I have received a letter from Mr. Murdstone, in which he mentions that he would desire me to receive into an apartment in the rear of my house, which is at present unoccupied—and is, in short, to be let as a—in short, said the stranger, with a smile and in a burst of confidence, as a bedroom—the young beginner whom I have now the pleasure to— and the stranger waved his hand, and settled his chin in his shirt-collar.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Having told how she disposed of her tales, Jo added, And when I went to get my answer, the man said he liked them both, but didn't pay beginners, only let them print in his paper, and noticed the stories.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The first actual pain which Miss Crawford occasioned her was the consequence of an inclination to learn to ride, which the former caught, soon after her being settled at Mansfield, from the example of the young ladies at the Park, and which, when Edmund's acquaintance with her increased, led to his encouraging the wish, and the offer of his own quiet mare for the purpose of her first attempts, as the best fitted for a beginner that either stable could furnish.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)