rookie
verb · noun · adjective
Simple meaning
An inexperienced recruit.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ruukeeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹʊki
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitivechiefly sports
To haze one or more rookies as an initiation ritual.
intransitive
To be a rookie; to go through one's inexperienced learning period in a job, team, or organization.
noun
An athlete either new to the sport or to a team or in his/her first year of professional competition, especially said of baseball, basketball, hockey and American football players.
An inexperienced recruit, especially in the police or armed forces.
british
A type of firecracker, used by farmers to scare rooks.
A novice.
adjective
Non-professional; amateur
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
More ways to use rookie
- “The rookie police officer learned quickly on the job.”
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.