smatterer

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

To the philosophers at Athens he appears as the preacher of a new philosophy, and they think him a "smatterer" in such subjects.

From Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul by Tucker, T. G. (Thomas George)

They sent everybody to school, and, though their educations were principally those of smatterers, it is an advantage to be even a smatterer among the very ignorant.

From The Chainbearer Or, The Littlepage Manuscripts by Cooper, James Fenimore

Now Chilperic must have learned to speak Latin like other kings of the Franks, and was a smatterer in several kinds of literature.

From View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, Vol. 3 by Hallam, Henry

In history he was the merest smatterer, though it was his favorite reading, and he was always talking about Sparta, Athens, and Rome.

From Famous Americans of Recent Times by Parton, James

But in geometry and rational arithmetic he is a smatterer, though expert at computation; at the board he is a trained man of business.

From A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II by Smith, David Eugene