07/01/2015
virtuoso
Audio Pronunciation\ver-choo-OH-soh\
DEFINITION
noun
1 :
an experimenter or investigator especially in the arts and sciences
2 :
one skilled in or having a taste for the fine arts
3 :
one who excels in the technique of an art; especially : a highly skilled musical performer
EXAMPLES
"A virtuoso with words, [Thomas Jefferson] invariably produced easily read and readily comprehensible drafts that usually included some memorable phrases." — John Ferling, Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, 2004
"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, quartets that wanted to be symphonies." — Ken Keaton, Palm Beach Daily News, December 12, 2014