Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person new to a field or activity; a beginner.
  • noun A person who has entered a religious order but has not yet taken final vows.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who is new to the circumstances in which he or she is placed; a beginner in anything; an inexperienced or untried person.
  • noun Specifically A monk or nun who has newly entered one of the orders, and is still in a state of probation, subject to the superior of the convent and the discipline of the house, but bound by no permanent monastic vows; a probationer. The term of probation differs in different religious communities, but is regularly at least one year.
  • Having the character of a beginner, or one new to the practice of anything; inexperienced; also, characteristic of or befitting a novice.
  • noun In bench shows and other similar exhibitions, an animal which has not before been exhibited for a prize.
  • noun In athletics, one who has not won a prize, when the competition is open to members of two or more clubs.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Like a novice; becoming a novice.
  • noun One who is new in any business, profession, or calling; one unacquainted or unskilled; one yet in the rudiments; a beginner; a tyro.
  • noun One newly received into the church, or one newly converted to the Christian faith.
  • noun (Eccl.) One who enters a religious house, whether of monks or nuns, as a probationist.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone new to a field or activity
  • noun someone who has entered a religious order but has not taken final vows

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin novīcius, from Latin, recently entered into a condition, from Latin novus, new; see newo- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman novice, Middle French novice, from Latin novīcius, later novitius ("new, newly arrived") (in Late Latin as a noun, novicius, masculine, novicia ("feminine, one who has newly entered a monastery or a convent")), from novus ("new").

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Examples

  • In the late 1930s and 1940s, Dorothy Snell, as she was then known, competed and won medals at the national level in novice, junior and senior competitions.

    Dorothy S. Curtis; Capitol Hill aide, skater Post 2010

  • The political novice is giving up his day job at Saint Giuseppe's Heavenly Pizza to come to Washington.

    With turnover, House becomes more of a home for the everyman Philip Rucker 2010

  • Danny makes a good point IMO that the first piece of advice to a novice is to first focus on the user experience, and not on advanced SEO tactics.

    Rand v Whalen: Focus on Engines or Users? | Managing Greatness 2009

  • I have PM'd jslay, who as a novice is being cagey about her location, her e mail, and other elements of her profile, notifying her of my son's family in San Antonio, TX who would be happy to have her help in exchange for a room and a REASONABLE LIVING WAGE.

    Maid for cooking and cleaning in exchange for a room 2008

  • I have PM'd jslay, who as a novice is being cagey about her location, her e mail, and other elements of her profile, notifying her of my son's family in San Antonio, TX who would be happy to have her help in exchange for a room and a REASONABLE LIVING WAGE.

    Maid for cooking and cleaning in exchange for a room 2008

  • I have PM'd jslay, who as a novice is being cagey about her location, her e mail, and other elements of her profile, notifying her of my son's family in San Antonio, TX who would be happy to have her help in exchange for a room and a REASONABLE LIVING WAGE.

    Maid for cooking and cleaning in exchange for a room 2008

  • I have PM'd jslay, who as a novice is being cagey about her location, her e mail, and other elements of her profile, notifying her of my son's family in San Antonio, TX who would be happy to have her help in exchange for a room and a REASONABLE LIVING WAGE.

    Maid for cooking and cleaning in exchange for a room 2008

  • I have PM'd jslay, who as a novice is being cagey about her location, her e mail, and other elements of her profile, notifying her of my son's family in San Antonio, TX who would be happy to have her help in exchange for a room and a REASONABLE LIVING WAGE.

    Maid for cooking and cleaning in exchange for a room 2008

  • I have PM'd jslay, who as a novice is being cagey about her location, her e mail, and other elements of her profile, notifying her of my son's family in San Antonio, TX who would be happy to have her help in exchange for a room and a REASONABLE LIVING WAGE.

    Maid for cooking and cleaning in exchange for a room 2008

  • I have PM'd jslay, who as a novice is being cagey about her location, her e mail, and other elements of her profile, notifying her of my son's family in San Antonio, TX who would be happy to have her help in exchange for a room and a REASONABLE LIVING WAGE.

    Maid for cooking and cleaning in exchange for a room 2008

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