Meaning & use
experienced
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Skilled or knowledgeable because you have done something many times or for a long while.
Grammar: Often followed by in or at: an experienced driver, experienced in sales.
Patterns
- experienced in something
- experienced at doing something
We hired an experienced nurse to train the new staff.
She is experienced in managing large projects.
The team was young but not very experienced.
Word forms
| comparative | more experienced |
|---|---|
| superlative | most experienced |
Common combinations
- highly experienced
- He is a highly experienced pilot.
- experienced teacher
- An experienced teacher can calm a noisy class quickly.
- experienced in
- They are experienced in working with children.
- less experienced
- Less experienced climbers should take the easier route.
Synonyms and how they differ
- seasoned
- Suggests experience that has toughened or hardened someone through years of work, and is a little more vivid.
- skilled
- Focuses on ability, whereas experienced focuses on time spent doing the job.
- veteran
- Used for someone with a very long record in a field, and works as a noun too.
Opposites
Word family
- experience noun
- knowledge or skill gained by doing something
- experience verb
- to go through or feel something
- inexperienced adjective
- lacking experience
- experiential adjective
- based on direct experience
Commonly confused: experienced or expert?
experienced vs expert
An expert has deep specialist knowledge; an experienced person has simply done something a lot, and may or may not be an expert.
Practice
Choose the best word: She is very experienced ___ dealing with difficult customers.
Choose one answer.
Experienced is followed by in or at before an activity. 'For' and 'of' do not fit this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “experienced”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.