connoisseur synonyms

connoisseur

n.

judge, expert, authority, aesthete, epicure, gourmet, epicurean, specialist, critic, collector, dilettante, gastronome, gourmand, bon vivant, tastemaker, arbiter of taste, cognoscente (Italian), man of taste, woman of taste, virtuoso, maven*, culture vulture*.

a connoisseur is one who has expert knowledge or a keen discrimination in matters of art and, by extension, in any matters of taste a connoisseur of fine foods; aesthete, although applied to one highly sensitive to art and beauty, is often used derogatorily to connote effeteness or decadence; dilettante originally referred to one who appreciates art as distinguished from one who creates it, but is now chiefly used disparagingly of one who dabbles superficially in the arts

Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
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