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Glite Dictionary
still green

still green

2 5.2
A person who is new and not yet experienced in a job or field
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : inexperto
  • There, his brains had gotten him acting sergeant stripes when he was still green, and his habit of doing his own thing had gotten him busted just as fast.

Examples

  • As a new teacher, she felt still green and unsure of her methods.

  • "'Cause she's still green, and I'm not sure she'll be able to handle it."

    Fiction book (1999)

  • I'm still green to a lot of stuff in the industry, so for now I'm taking it one day at a time.

    Blog text (28)

  • Mrs. Jones might have taken a liking to you, but you're still green, Tom.

    Shift (2023)

  • These guys were clearly still green and hadn't had their souls sucked dry by Springfield Mall yet.

    Blog text (1)

  • Although he had great ideas, he was still green in his field and needed more experience.

  • Despite showing potential, the intern remained still green, lacking the skills for the project.

Synonyms

untrained
vsstill green
31 3.4

Having no teaching or practice to do a task well

is inexperienced but may include lack of skill or limited experience
raw
vsstill green
  • Informal
30 4.4

New and without much experience in a job or activity

is inexperienced more generally and not yet fully trained or skilled
green as grass
vsstill green
  • Informal
1 7.5

A person who does not know much yet about a job or task

is inexperienced without implying strong naivety or extreme youth
green in the field
vsstill green
  • Informal
7.2

Not very experienced in a job or area

is inexperienced in general and not fully trained across tasks

Antonyms

skilled
172 3.5

Having special training and ability to do a job well

experienced
138 2.1

Someone who has a lot of skill and knowledge from doing something many times

How Experienced

expert
3 3.5
skilled
172 3.5
competent
114 3.6
still green
  • Informal
2 5.2
untrained
31 3.4
raw
  • Informal
30 4.4

Surface Forms

still green positive

Morphology

still + green

The meaning 'inexperienced' is directly and compositionally derived from 'still' (continuing/up to now) modifying 'green' (inexperienced). This follows a standard adjective-modifier pattern and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent senses will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Still green comes from the image of fruit or young leaves that are not ripe and are still green, so they are not ready. That's why a person who is still green is 'inexperienced' and still learning.