enthusiast

See also: Enthusiast

English

A chess enthusiast.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐνθουσιαστής (enthousiastḗs, “an enthusiast, a zealot”), from ἐνθουσιάζειν (enthousiázein, “(intransitive) be inspired or possessed by a god, be rapt, be in ecstasy, (transitive) inspire”): see enthusiasm.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Ireland) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈθuːziˌæst/, /-θjuː-/, /-əst/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈθuziˌɪst/, /ɛn-/, /-ˈθju-/, /-ˌæst/, /-əst/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈθʊʉziˌəst/, /en-/, /-θïɯ-/, /-æst/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtʰuːziˌəst/, /en-/, /-tʰjuː-/, /-æst/
• (General South African) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈθʉːziˌəst/, /en-/, /-θjʉː-/, /-æst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

enthusiast (plural enthusiasts)

1. A person filled with or guided by enthusiasm.

   Synonyms: aficionado, amateur, freak, (computing) power user, (marketing) prosumer; see also Thesaurus:enthusiast

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 28:

     But Charles Aubyn (for it was he) had, like most enthusiasts, overcalculated the influence of his eloquence; surprise had alone procured him a hearing, and the bold cavaliers around were little in the mood for a homily.

   • 2010, Niamh Nic Daeid, Fifty Years of Forensic Science: A Commentary:

     I would challenge any rock enthusiast to refrain from tapping his/her foot when listening to such music.

2. (archaic) A person exhibiting over-zealous religious fervour.

Related terms

• enthuse
• enthusiasm
• enthusiastic

 

Translations

person filled with or guided by enthusiasm

Afrikaans: entoesias Burmese: ဝါသနာရှင် (wasa.nahrang) Catalan: entusiasta m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 热衷者 Czech: nadšenec (cs) m Danish: entusiast (da) c Esperanto: entuziasmulo Finnish: intoilija (fi), harrastaja (fi) French: passionné (fr), amateur (fr) Galician: entusiasta (gl) German: Enthusiast (de) m Irish: díograiseoir m, scailéathan m Italian: entusiasta (it), appassionato (it) Japanese: please add this translation if you can Latin: perquīsītor m Manx: ard-jeeaneyder m Marathi: उत्साही m or f (utsāhī) Norwegian: Bokmål: ildsjel (no) m or f Nynorsk: eldsjel f Persian: شوریده (fa) (šuride) Polish: entuzjasta (pl) m, entuzjastka (pl) f, miłośnik (pl) m, zapaleniec (pl) m, wielbiciel (pl) m, czciciel (pl) m, hołdownik m, miłośniczka (pl) f, wielbicielka (pl) f, czcicielka (pl) f Portuguese: entusiasta (pt) Romanian: entuziast (ro) m Russian: энтузиа́ст (ru) m (entuziást) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ентузѝјаст m, ентузѝјасткиња f, занесѐња̄к m, занесења̀киња f Roman: entuzìjast (sh) f, entuzìjastkinja (sh) f, zanesènjāk (sh) m, zanesenjàkinja (sh) f Spanish: entusiasta (es) Swedish: entusiast (sv) c, eldsjäl (sv) c Thai: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: ентузіаст m (entuziast), ентузіастка f (entuziastka)

person exhibiting over-zealous religious fervour

Danish: sværmer c French: enthousiaste (fr) m or f, zélote (fr) m or f Irish: díograiseoir m Italian: zelota (it)

See also

• -phile

Further reading

• “enthusiast”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “enthusiast”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “enthusiast”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Tushetians, sustaineth