virtuoso

noun

vir·​tu·​o·​so ˌvər-chü-ˈō-(ˌ)sō 

-(ˌ)zō

plural virtuosos or virtuosi ˌvər-chü-ˈō-(ˌ)sē 

-(ˌ)zē

1

: one who excels in the technique of an art

Hailed far and wide as a virtuoso, perhaps the greatest glass artist of the 20th century …

—Jon Krakauer

especially : a highly skilled musical performer

a piano/violin virtuoso

a jazz virtuoso

But the heart of the program was Beethoven, the Quartet in E Minor, Opus 59, No. 2, "Razoumovsky." This is where the modern string quartet begins, quartets that became the property of virtuosos instead of amateurs …

—Ken Keaton

2

: a person who has exceptional skill, expertise, or talent at some endeavor

… instances in which young computer virtuosos occasionally cross the legal boundaries of remote computer systems.

—Scott Mace

Although hockey has been more team-oriented than any other major sport, through the years there have been virtuosos who packed the houses.

—Stan Fischler

3

: a person interested in the pursuit of knowledge in some specialized field and especially in the arts and sciences

[Samuel] Pepys was a characteristic product of his day, a virtuoso, a man sympathetic to every new trend in science and scholarship.

—William Matthews

4

: a person interested in or having a taste for the fine arts

In the eighteenth century, rich "virtuosos" like Richard Payne Knight and his friend Charles Townley assembled vast collections of everything from Roman sculpture to skewered beetles …

—Walter Kendrick

virtuoso adjective

a virtuoso cellist

virtuoso performances

Canto LXXX … provides a particularly virtuoso example of the poet's ear for dialects and languages.

—Richard Sieburth

Did you know?

English speakers borrowed the Italian noun virtuoso in the 1600s, but the Italian word had a former life as an adjective meaning both "virtuous" and "skilled." The first virtuosos (the English word can be pluralized as either virtuosos or, in the image of its Italian forbear, as virtuosi) were individuals of substantial knowledge and learning ("great wits," to quote one 17th-century clergyman). The word was then transferred to those skilled in the arts and to skilled musicians, specifically. In time, English speakers broadened virtuoso to apply to a person adept in any pursuit.

Synonyms

• ace
• adept
• artist
• authority
• cognoscente
• connoisseur
• crackerjack
• crackajack
• dab [chiefly British]
• dab hand [chiefly British]
• expert
• fiend
• geek
• guru
• hand
• hotshot
• maestro
• master
• maven
• mavin
• meister
• past master
• proficient
• scholar
• shark
• sharp
• whiz
• wizard

Examples of virtuoso in a Sentence

He's a real virtuoso in the kitchen.

Recent Examples on the Web

The whole thing was an exercise in virtuoso terraforming. —Justin Davidson, Curbed, 3 July 2024

Yet given his gifts (keyboard virtuoso, powerful soul voice, stellar dancer, able to craft a propulsive hook), why didn’t Billy Preston become a bigger star? —Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 22 Nov. 2024

Trump, the reigning virtuoso of attention-hacking, seems destined to keep repeating the same leaden anecdotes about shark attacks and long-dead celebrities, but Carlson has an appetite for new information and a flair for verbal dexterity. —Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2024

The virtuoso believes there should be healthy aspects of listening to dance music that benefit listeners positively other than just loving the genre. —Lisa Kocay, Forbes, 26 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Italian, from virtuoso, adjective, virtuous, skilled, from Late Latin virtuosus virtuous, from Latin virtus

First Known Use

1613, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Kids Definition

virtuoso

noun

vir·​tu·​o·​so ˌvər-chə-ˈwō-sō 

-zō

plural virtuosos or virtuosi -sē 

-zē

: a person who excels in the performance of an art

especially : a skilled musician

virtuoso adjective