callow

adj.

immature or inexperienced.

Syn: crude, guileless, inexperienced, jejune, naive, puerile

Ant: experienced, initiated, mature, sophisticated

dilettante

n.

one with an amateurish or superficial interest in the arts or a branch of knowledge

Syn: amateur, rookie, unaccomplished, tyro

Ant: professional

engender

v.

to produce, cause, or give rise to; come into existence.

Syn: arouse, beget, create, foment, propogate, engender, reproduce, yield

Ant: destroy, finish, halt, kill, stop; be unproductive

inchoate

adj.

in an initial stage; not fully formed; amorphous

Syn: undeveloped, immature, incipient, rudimentary, irregular, nebulous, nondescript, vague

Ant: developed, grown, mature, definite, distinct, shaped

incipient

adj.

beginning to come into being or become apparent.

Syn: basic, beginning, elementary, fundamental, initial, fledgling, promising, young

Ant: developed, grown, mature; dying, shrinking, withering

nascent

adj.

coming into being; in early developmental stages

Syn: beginning, fledgling, growing, incipient, immature, inchoate, rudimentary

Ant: dying, shrinking, withering; developed, grown, mature

neologism

n.

a new word, expression, or usage; the creation or use of new words or senses

Ant: time-worn

neophyte

n.

a recent convert; a beginner; novice.

Syn: abecedarian, amateur, apprentice, fledgling, dilettante

Ant: professional

novitiate

n.

the state or period of being a beginner in anything; a novice

Syn: abecedarian, amateur, initiate, tyro, pupil

Ant: mentor, teacher

precursor

n.

one that precedes and indicates or announces another

Syn: forerunner, harbinger, herald, vanguard, antecedent, original, predecessor, prototype

proselyte

n.

a convert

Syn: disciple, follower, neophyte, conscript

tyro

n.

a beginner in learning anything; novice

Syn: abecedarian, amateur, apprentice, neophyte, novitiate, dilettante

Ant: professional