Connoisseur | Definition of connoisseur by Merriam-Webster

Full Definition of CONNOISSEUR

1

: expert; especially : one who understands the details, technique, or principles of an art and is competent to act as a critical judge

2

: one who enjoys with discrimination and appreciation of subtleties <a connoisseur of fine wines>

— con·nois·seur·ship \-ˌship\ noun

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Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, now starring in Broadway's A Raisin in the Sun, takes his grooming rituals seriously. “I take a bath around 3 a.m. when I get home to wind down. I'm a bath connoisseur,” says Combs, 34. “I have bath salts, bath beads—I can make you the best bath in the world.” —Ann Marie Cruz, People, 14 June 2004
Police reporting had made me a connoisseur of auto accidents. Some people could tell a fake Rembrandt from the real thing; I could tell a run-of-the-mill fender bender from a real accident. —Russell Baker, The Good Times, 1989
It was apple juice. Ortiz watched him drink it with all the delicacy of a wine connoisseur sampling new bordeaux. —Tom Clancy, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, (1988) 1989
He was a voracious reader, a strong critic, an art connoisseur in certain directions, a collector of books, but above all he was a man of the world by profession, and loved the contacts—perhaps the collisions—of society. —Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, 1907
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obsolete French (now connaisseur), from Old French connoisseor, from connoistre to know, from Latin cognoscere — more at cognition

First Known Use: 1714

: a person qualified to act as a judge in matters involving taste and appreciation

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