First Known Use: 14th century
Dictionary
novice
noun nov·ice \ˈnä-vəs\
: a person who has just started learning or doing something
: a new member of a religious group who is preparing to become a nun or a monk
Full Definition of NOVICE
1
: a person admitted to probationary membership in a religious community
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Examples of NOVICE
- Novices serve time as scullery serfs as they work toward the privilege of trailing a pastry chef … —Guy Trebay, New York Times, 4 Sept. 2002
- For the novice, walking the course also means being scared senseless by all the possibilities to screw up. —Tim Keown, ESPN, 17 Sept. 2001
- Yet it's obvious to him and everyone else who the novice is here, the book-learned tournament virgin. —James McManus, Harper's, December 2000
- Much defter than one would have thought possible from the length of her fingernails, Toula had no fear of high fast notes; her flair, mounted between Andrea's perfectionist reserve and Alice's novice awkwardness, seemed all too displayed. —John Updike, The Afterlife, 1994
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Origin of NOVICE
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin novicius, from Latin, newly imported, from novus — more at new
NOVICE Defined for Kids
novice
noun nov·ice \ˈnä-vəs\
Definition of NOVICE for Kids
1
: a person who has no previous experience with something : beginner <a novice at skiing>
2
: a new member of a religious community who is preparing to take the vows of religion
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