smatterer

• Like Mr. Stevenson's smatterer, who was asked, "What would be the result of putting a pound of potassium in a pot of porter?" —  Adventures in Criticism
• To the philosophers at Athens he appears as the preacher of a new philosophy, and they think him a "smatterer" in such subjects. —  Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul
• In history he was the merest smatterer, though it was his favorite reading, and he was always talking about Sparta, Athens, and Rome. —  Famous Americans of Recent Times
• But the worst of it is that all efforts in this direction have generally ended in producing a "smatterer," whose theories are baffled by constant disappointment, and whose worldly prosperity is lessened by his mistaken experiments Successful farming implies, first of all, steady and dogged hard work, coupled with prudent and watchful skill. —  Village Improvements and Farm Villages
• The old militia-man shook his wary head Too vast a subject, ma'am," he said, "for a smatterer like me. —  No Name

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the Same Context