Novice
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A beginner; one who is not very familiar or experienced in a particular subject.
"I'm only a novice at coding, and my programs frequently have bugs that more experienced programmers would avoid."
- 2 someone new to a field or activity wordnet
- 3 A new member of a religious order accepted on a conditional basis, prior to confirmation.
"Nor had it been difficult to find a Coptic priest who, together with his youthful novice, chanted the seemingly interminable Egyptian service of the dead […]"
- 4 someone who has entered a religious order but has not taken final vows wordnet
- 1 Of a beginner; unfamiliar or unexperienced in a particular subject.
Example
More examples"I'm a novice at programming, but I learn quickly."
Etymology
From Middle English novice, novys, from Anglo-Norman novice, Middle French novice, itself borrowed from Latin novīcius, later novitius (“new, newly arrived”) (in Late Latin as a noun, masculine novicius, feminine novicia (“one who has newly entered a monastery or a convent”)), from novus (“new”).
More for "novice"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.