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In Latin, the suffix -aster indicates partial resemblance. In both Latin and English, that often translates to "second-rate," or maybe even "third-rate." Not surprisingly, "poetaster" often goes hand in hand with doggerel, meaning "verse marked by triviality or inferiority." Are there are other kinds of "-asters" out there? Yes indeed - we have criticasters, philosophasters, and politicasters, among others.
Synonyms
Examples of poetaster in a Sentence
she's a poetaster whose verse never rises above what is found on greeting cards
Recent Examples on the Web
Heti’s detractors could probably put a bottle in the middle of a table and entertain themselves reading lines out of context in suave, poetaster voices.
—
New York Times, 7 Feb. 2022
But -aster words have never been particularly common, with the exception of poetaster, an inferior poet.
—Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 June 2018
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New York Times, 7 Feb. 2022
But -aster words have never been particularly common, with the exception of poetaster, an inferior poet.
—Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 June 2018
Dictionary Entries Near poetaster
Cite this Entry
“Poetaster.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poetaster. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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