adjective
green
Lacking experience or practical judgment.
The green recruit needs more practice before working alone.
Etymology
Green is the color of young or unripe growth. Applied to people, it turns incomplete ripening into an image for limited experience or undeveloped practical judgment.
More examples
- I was still green when I accepted my first assignment.
- They hired a talented but green technician.
- She looked less green after a month on the job.
Forms
green · greener · greenest
Similar words
- inexperienced
- The neutral term without the freshness metaphor.
- naive
- Emphasizes lack of worldly judgment rather than practice alone.