"Experienced" vs. "seasoned"

Are these two words interchangeable?

According to the Oxford dictionary, experienced means having knowledge or skill in a particular job or activity, while seasoned having a lot of experience in a particular activity. But, people still do say "seasoned pilot".

Then, what is the difference these two?

Solution 1:

The two are often used interchangeably.

That said, a Google search of "seasoned by experience" (in quotes) comes up with many examples of that phrase being used by legitimate publications, including by some dictionaries in the example sentences attributed to seasoned.

This points to the fact that the two words can have different implications. Seasoned really means something closer to matured. Because people typically mature as a result of experience, the conflation of the two words is understandable. However, there are plenty of people out there who've had a world of experience and have yet to grow up.

Solution 2:

As with so many near synonyms, the choice depends on style and context. To take a rather trivial example, a writer may want to use seasoned simply because experienced has already appeared three lines earlier.

Solution 3:

Agree that these two are often interchangeable but context and implication provides a clue - Experience is repetitive exposure whereas seasoning is the maturation process that occurs as a result of this. One can have had plenty of experience but if nothing has been learned as a result, one would not be considered seasoned. See Cambridge Dictionary for this definition . . . 'having a lot of experience of doing something and therefore knowing how to do it well'

Solution 4:

Anyone can be experienced, not all are seasoned. It depends on how much you learn and internalize from experience. Seasoned, therefore, is used for people who are experts by virtue of rich and beneficial experience.