Meaning & use
non-professional
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Not doing something as a paid job or career, or not trained in it as an expert would be.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a non-professional actor, the team is non-professional.
Patterns
- a non-professional actor
- non-professional staff
The film used non-professional actors from the village.
Non-professional gardeners can still win prizes at the show.
The league is non-professional, so players hold other jobs.
nouncountable
A person who does an activity for pleasure, or without formal qualifications, instead of as a paid expert.
Grammar: Countable: a non-professional, two non-professionals.
Patterns
- a non-professional at something
As a non-professional, he rarely asks for money for his paintings.
The tournament is open to professionals and non-professionals.
Most of the volunteers are non-professionals who simply love music.
Word forms
| plural | non-professionals |
|---|
Common combinations
- non-professional actor
- A non-professional actor played the old fisherman.
- non-professional athlete
- The non-professional athlete trained before work every day.
- non-professional advice
- Please treat this as non-professional advice from a friend.
- non-professional staff
- The hospital's non-professional staff include cleaners and porters.
- non-professional photographer
- A non-professional photographer took the winning picture.
Synonyms and how they differ
- amateur
- Amateur usually stresses doing something for enjoyment and can sound positive, though it can also suggest low skill, while non-professional is neutral.
- lay
- Lay is used for people without specialist training, as in a lay person, and is often used about religion or law.
- unpaid
- Unpaid only says no money is received, not that the person lacks training.
- inexpert
- Inexpert hints at a lack of skill, which non-professional does not necessarily say.
Opposites
Word family
- profession noun
- a job needing special training
- professional adjective
- doing something as a paid job, or showing high standards
- professionally adverb
- in a skilled or paid way
- professionalism noun
- skill and responsible behavior at work
Commonly confused: non-professional or unprofessional?
non-professional vs unprofessional
Unprofessional means behaving badly for a work setting. A non-professional is simply not a professional, with no criticism meant.
Practice
Which sentence correctly uses non-professional to mean someone who is not doing it as a paid career?
Choose one answer.
A runner with another day job is not a paid professional, so the second sentence fits. The third describes bad behavior, which is unprofessional, not non-professional.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “non-professional”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.