- a person who is very interested in something and spends a lot of time doing it
- a football enthusiast
- enthusiast of something an enthusiast of jazz
- enthusiast for something She was an enthusiast for early Italian art.
Extra ExamplesTopics Feelingsc1- Railway enthusiasts were given the chance to ride on the old steam train during the weekend.
- She was a lifelong enthusiast of dancing, running and waterskiing.
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- a person who approves of something and shows enthusiasm for it
- enthusiast for something enthusiasts for a united Europe
- enthusiast of something They are great enthusiasts of the American work ethic.
Word Originearly 17th cent. (denoting a person believing that they are divinely inspired): from French enthousiaste or ecclesiastical Latin enthusiastes ‘member of a heretical sect’, from Greek enthousiastēs ‘person inspired by a god’, from the adjective enthous ‘possessed by a god, inspired’ (based on theos ‘god’).
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enthusiast