novices
Those just starting
Novices are people new to an activity, field, or skill—beginners who lack experience.
The word often implies someone still learning the basics: The hiking trail is suitable for novices.
In religious contexts, a novice is someone who has entered a monastery or convent but has not yet taken final vows.
Novices learning a craft
- neophytesInexperienced newcomers
- tyrosInexperienced beginners
- newcomersThose recently arrived
- amateursNonprofessional participants
trainees · fledglings · newbies · greenhorns · rookies · tenderfoots · first-timers · learners
Newly joined members
- cadetsMilitary students in training
- internsWorkers gaining supervised experience
- apprenticesNovices learning a craft
- probationersThose serving trial periods
pledges · proteges · mentees · understudies · pupils · students · enrollees · disciples
Applicants to religious orders
- initiatesStarts or new members
- acolytesDevoted followers or assistants
- monksCloistered religious men
- nunsFemale religious monastics
aspirants · candidates · probationers · oblates · seminarians · converts · devotees · monastics
apprentices
Novices learning a craft
amateurs · trainees · fledglings · newbies · greenhorns · rookies · tenderfoots · first-timers · learners · starters
recruits
Newly joined members
- cadetsMilitary students in training
- internsWorkers gaining supervised experience
- apprenticesNovices learning a craft
probationers · pledges · proteges · mentees · understudies · pupils · students · enrollees · disciples · inductees
postulants
Applicants to religious orders
nuns · aspirants · candidates · probationers · oblates · seminarians · converts · devotees · monastics · friars
- non-expertsamateurs, beginners, laypeople, non-experts, non-specialists
- young adultsyoung adults, twenty-somethings, twentysomethings, young people, young professionals
- occultistswitches, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, warlocks
- upstartsnewcomers, rookies, newbies, challengers, usurpers
- Tibetan BuddhismBuddha, Tibet, Dalai Lama, lama, lamas
- Buddhistsabbots
novicesveterans
Former armed forces members
experts · old hands · old-timers · journeymen · battle-hardened
- novice driverInexperienced person operating vehicle
- novice monksReligious order trainees
- novice trainingInstruction for new learners
- novice classCategory for inexperienced participants