3

I am attempting to contrast being an expert in something and having a broad range of knowledge but expertise nowhere. Is there a word to sum up that second element? The sentence I am trying to fit this word into is in the conclusion of an essay:

We have traded loyalty for liberty, expertise for _______, and simplicity for efficiency.

I haven't been able to find any perfect options so far, but the closest I have gotten is "diversity."

Emma
  • 41
  • 1
    Do you have a better way to word it? I'm open to suggestions! The sentence is not just for the topic I mentioned, but sums up the essay, so by itself it does seem a bit off-topic. – Emma Apr 24 '23 at 16:25
  • 1
    You are saying: loyalty for liberty, expertise for dilettantism, simplicity for efficiency. – Lambie Apr 24 '23 at 16:28
  • 1
    Expertise in a narrow range of knowledge is called "specialism," such an expert being called a "specialist," while expertise in a broad range of knowledge is "generalism," such an expert being called a "generalist." Very often, generalism comes at the expense of specialism, the opportunity cost of attaining a broad range of knowledge being a greater depth of knowledge attainable by narrowing the range of knowledge. I'm not providing this as an answer to your question because your question, I feel, uses the wrong word. Instead of "expertise for _____," it should be "specialism for generalism." – Benjamin Harman Apr 24 '23 at 17:39
  • By the way, an idiom for one who has a broad range of knowledge but not much in-depth knowledge is "Renaissance man." Another expression is "jack of all trades, master of none." – Benjamin Harman Apr 24 '23 at 17:42
  • If what you're asking for by saying "a broad range of knowledge" is an opposite for the word "expertise" that doesn't necessarily convey stupidity or incompetence, an option to consider is "common knowledge," or if you wish to switch "expertise" to "experts," then an apt opposite would be "laity," people who have general knowledge but do not have specialized or professional knowledge of a subject. – Benjamin Harman Apr 24 '23 at 18:02
  • @BenjaminHarman I like your suggestion of saying "specialism for generalism." That does seem to fit the best. Thank you! – Emma Apr 24 '23 at 18:17
  • OK. With that clarification, I'll go ahead and provide it as an answer. – Benjamin Harman Apr 24 '23 at 18:20
  • You need to say more about what you are trying to achieve, please. Being an expert in some aspect of a subject and having a broad general knowledge (of that subject) are not necessarily mutually incompatible. Nor is it impossible for someone to be both an expert in some field and to have broad general knowledge. – Tuffy Apr 25 '23 at 13:33
  • 1
    The question is not exactly a duplicate, as the other questions seek a word for a person with such knowledge, while this one seeks the word for the knowledge itself. Suppose we agree with some of the answers to the other questions that jack of all trades is a suitable term for the person, we still might wonder whether there is a good term for the quality of being a jack of all trades. – jsw29 Apr 25 '23 at 16:46
  • Reminds me of what my colleagues used to say when I worked in Germany... "An engineer knows more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing. A manager, on the other hand, knows less and less about more and more until he knows nothing about everything." – Mark Setchell Apr 25 '23 at 21:34
  • the universal idiom for this is "jack of all trades", or more fully "jack of all trades, master of none". this question is a dupe, and is ELL. – Fattie Apr 26 '23 at 11:23
  • @Fattie It would be helpful to point out what it is a dupe of, and why it suits ELL better. – Joachim Apr 26 '23 at 12:36
  • hi @Emma you can ask very basic thesaurus or SWR questions on ELL, where you will get heaps of "general" ( :) ) help. also, notice the linked very similar questions, look to the right on this page – Fattie Apr 26 '23 at 12:42
  • In terms of "helping me write a sentence" (I believe such questions are not really apt for this site?) I'd just write "... expertise for general knowledge". (It's very often a mistake when you're writing in English to try to find a "single word", as English is very much not a "single word" language, its a phrase-oriented language.) I would point out to you that "specialism for generalism" is incredibly obscurist and awkward. It sounds like you asked on the internet for two incredibly obscure words that fit a three-part list. – Fattie Apr 26 '23 at 12:50

6 Answers6

8

generalism

Expertise in a narrow range of knowledge is called "specialism," such an expert being called a "specialist," while expertise in "a broad range of knowledge" is "generalism," such an expert being called a "generalist."

Very often, generalism comes at the expense of specialism, the opportunity cost of attaining a broad range of knowledge being a greater depth of knowledge attainable by narrowing the range of knowledge.

Based on your comments above, perhaps instead of "expertise for _____," you'd want to put "specialism for generalism."

Benjamin Harman
  • 10,508
  • 2
    I think "expertise for generalism" is actually better than "specialism for generalism". Expertise sounds like a worse thing to give up than specialism. But I very much think generalism is the right answer. – Mark Foskey Apr 25 '23 at 00:59
  • 1
    it's worth noting that "generalist" is an eeryday word, broadly used, but you never hear or read "generalism". – Fattie Apr 26 '23 at 11:24
6

In this particular context, one option (as mentioned in Lambie's comment) is dilettantism. This refers to behaving like a dilettante, which is defined by Cambridge as:

a person who is or seems to be interested in a subject, but whose understanding of it is not very deep or serious

alphabet
  • 18,217
  • 2
    "Dilettante" usually implies someone with a lot of shallow interests. It's also (usually) very mildly perjorative. That makes it a good fit. – fectin Apr 25 '23 at 01:30
  • You say that as if it’s a good thing? – Tinfoil Hat Apr 25 '23 at 01:40
  • 3
    Oh wait, is OP trading good for bad? I thought it was the other way around. Liberty is better than loyalty. Efficiency is better than simplicity. ____ is better than expertise. – Tinfoil Hat Apr 25 '23 at 01:45
  • 1
    @TinfoilHat I'm comparing things in the past to the way they are now and leaving it up to the reader to decide which is better. – Emma Apr 25 '23 at 11:23
  • Well dilettante is surely depreciatory, so that wouldn't be leaving it up to the reader. – Tinfoil Hat Apr 25 '23 at 13:46
  • 3
    Really, being a dilettante has nothing to do with the question title phrase "a broad range of knowledge". dilettantes for me (and the dictionary) cultivate one hobby or field, and indeed do that badly. If you're a dilettante, you're a dilettante in a certain thing under discussion. Is he a screenwriter? Nah a mere dilettante. You can't be a dilettante "in the abstract", you're a dilettante X. – Fattie Apr 26 '23 at 11:28
3

For a word with a more positive connotation than "diversity", consider eclecticism (estimating and valuing various areas of interest).

Examples: Everyone in the group has very different tastes and we've tried to cultivate this kind of eclecticism.
That's why eclecticism and open-mindedness are important qualities for candidates who already meet basic criteria such as ...

Another option is versatility that describes the virtue of having many different skills or qualities. Versatility allows you to adapt to many different situations. Your versatility in sports means that you can play soccer, tennis, and basketball.

Example : Listing versatility on your resume shows your ability to be flexible. It also shows you can accept changes and new ideas. Employers who want to cross-train employees may look for employees with this trait.

Graffito
  • 13,201
2

Polymath is the first word to come to my mind. Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci and William Herschel have been described as polymaths.

An edit: Hmm. Or maybe not. Polymaths are competent! Dilettane or generalist are better.

rst
  • 21
  • 1
    As the linked article states, [polymaths] excelled at several fields in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the arts. They are exceptional people with expertise in many areas. Not really what the question is after. – KillingTime Apr 25 '23 at 10:30
  • You've got a typo in "dilettante". – Eric Duminil Apr 26 '23 at 07:28
1

There is a compound word that will do quite well. There is probably no single-word term with a meaning that would match as well the meaning that has been explained.

(MerriamWebster) generalist
noun: one whose skills, interests, or habits are varied or unspecialized

The meaning of this term is one of the keys to the the understanding of the compound "generalist knowledge". The other is this page of Google examples: Google books, generalist knowledge.

  • We have traded loyalty for liberty, expertise for generalist knowledge, and simplicity for efficiency.
LPH
  • 20,841
  • 2
    A "generalist" isn't "a broad range of knowledge" but "a person with a broad range of knowledge," so "generalist" isn't a befitting answer to the question asked. It doesn't work in the blank that OP left in her sentence since the blank doesn't call for a word for a type of person but a word for a type of knowledge, which is what the question itself also expressly asks for. – Benjamin Harman Apr 24 '23 at 18:09
  • Yes, but with SWRs, nobody cares about silly noun-versus-verb-etc requests. – Fattie Apr 26 '23 at 11:30
  • @BenjaminHarman "Expertise" is (dictionary) "expert opinion or knowledge"; expert knowledge is certainly knowledge, knowledge of a certain type, and therefore, expertise is a type of knowledge , and so is "generalist knowledge". consequently this term does work in the blank; incidentally I do prefer it to "generalism" (that I didn't know) because of what I think is its greater specificity (it has been widely used, perhaps for this very reason). – LPH Apr 26 '23 at 12:07
0

'Dilletante' might meet the requirement for 'expertise nowhere' and 'polymath' could provide the 'broad range of knowledge…' but each falls down on the other's strength.

If two words would work you might squeeze in 'broad ignorance' but rightly, that would require an extra adjective to re-balance '… … expertise' in the scales.

Loosely, the bill might be filled by 'Jack of all trades…' with or without the usual tag-along '…master of none…'

Robbie Goodwin
  • 2,564