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Novice vs Layman - What's the difference?

novice | layman |

As nouns the difference between novice and layman

is that novice is a beginner; one who is not very familiar or experienced in a particular subject while layman is layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy.

novice

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A beginner; one who is not very familiar or experienced in a particular subject.
  • I'm only a novice at coding, and my programs frequently have bugs that more experienced programmers wouldn't make.
  • (senseid)(religion) A new member of a religious order accepted on a conditional basis, prior to confirmation.
  • * 1983 , (Lawrence Durrell), Sebastian , Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), page 1137:
  • Nor had it been difficult to find a Coptic priest who, together with his youthful novice , chanted the seemingly interminable Egyptian service of the dead [...].

    Synonyms

    * (person new to an activity) amateur, greenhorn, learner, neophyte, newbie, newling * See also

    layman

    English

    (wikipedia layman)

    Noun

    (laymen)
  • layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy
  • by analogy, someone who is not a professional in a given field
  • Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman .
    Let me explain it to you in layman's terms.
  • a common person
  • a person who is untrained or lacks knowledge of a subject
  • * 2005 , .
  • should he be held to be just a layman , or does he have some art?
  • a generally ignorant person
  • lay-sister or lay-brother, person received into a convent of monks, following the vows, but not being member of the order
  • Antonyms

    * expert * specialist * professional

    Derived terms

    * in layman's terms