novice

IPA/ˈnɒvɪs/
KK[nˈɑvəs]IPA/ˈnɑːvɪs/

novice — noun

  • novicesingular
  • novicesplural

1. someone just starting to learn or do something, with very little experience or s

1.nounB1
Definition

someone just starting to learn or do something, with very little experience or skill yet

Example

The cooking class was designed for novices who had never boiled an egg before.

As a novice at chess, Hamza lost his first ten games against the school club.

collocation: a novice at [activity]

Common collocations
  • complete novice
  • mere novice
  • relative novice
  • novice at/in [activity]
  • novice driver / teacher / photographer
Synonyms
  • beginner

    the most general and common term; can refer to oneself naturally

  • newcomer

    emphasizes recent arrival rather than lack of skill

  • rookie

    informal; strongly associated with sports, police, and military contexts

  • trainee

    implies a formal training programme with a supervisor

Antonyms
  • expert

    someone with deep knowledge gained through long experience

  • veteran

    someone with extensive practice, especially in a demanding field

Usage Note

Frequently followed by 'at' or 'in' to specify the field of inexperience: 'a novice at golf', 'a novice in politics'.

Common Mistakes

He is novice at using computers.
He is a novice at using computers.
As a countable noun, 'novice' needs an article (a/an/the) before it.

2. a trainee member of a religious community such as a monastery or convent, still

2.nounB2
Definition

a trainee member of a religious community such as a monastery or convent, still in the preparatory stage before full vows are taken

Example

The novice spent her first year in the convent praying with the older nuns.

Zuri entered the monastery as a novice at the age of twenty-two.

collocation: enter as a novice

Common collocations
  • novice monk / novice nun
  • novice master / novice mistress
  • enter as a novice
  • accept / admit novices
  • novitiate
Synonyms
  • postulant

    the stage before becoming a novice in some Catholic orders; a more preliminary status

  • initiate

    a broader term for someone newly admitted to a group, not exclusively religious

Antonyms

Usage Note

Only this sense refers to a formal religious status within a monastery or convent; use sense 1 for all general meanings of inexperience.

Common Mistakes

She became a novice monk last year.
She became a novice nun last year.
Match 'novice' with the correct term for the gender: 'novice monk' for men, 'novice nun' for women.

Word family

  • novitiate
    nounC2
  • noviciate
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe someone at an early stage, but they differ in connotation and context. 'Beginner' is the broadest and most neutral term — it can be used for any activity and sounds natural in self-reference ('I am a beginner at yoga'). 'Rookie' is informal and strongly tied to sports, military, and law enforcement, where it carries a sense of being new on a team or force ('the rookie officer'). 'Newcomer' focuses on recent arrival rather than skill level; a person can be a newcomer to a city without lacking ability in their field. 'Apprentice' implies a formal, structured relationship with a mentor and is most common in trades and crafts ('an apprentice electrician'). If you are simply stating that you have little experience, use 'beginner'; if you want to emphasise that you just joined a group or organisation, use 'newcomer'.

beginner ↗rookie ↗newcomer ↗apprentice ↗

Common collocations

Adverbs

  • still a novice
  • relatively novice

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

From Latin 'novicius', meaning 'newly arrived' or 'newly imported', which comes from 'novus' ('new'). The word entered English through Old French 'novice' during the medieval period. The religious sense (a person in a trial period before becoming a monk or nun) appeared in English around the 1300s, and the general sense of 'beginner' followed shortly after.