Meaning & use
Dabbled
Last updated
Engaged in an activity casually or superficially, without serious commitment or expertise.
See it in a sentence
In college she dabbled in painting before deciding to study architecture.
He dabbled with the idea of starting a podcast but never recorded an episode.
A note on using this word
Literally, ducks 'dabble' by paddling in shallow water; the figurative sense of casual involvement grew from that image.
Words with a similar meaning
toyed withexperimented withtinkered with
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
masteredspecialized in
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