freshman
Americannoun
-
a student in the first year of the course at a university, college, or high school.
-
a novice; beginner.
adjective
-
of, relating to, or characteristic of a freshman.
to outgrow one's freshman attitudes.
-
lacking seniority or experience; junior.
a freshman senator.
-
required of or suitable for freshmen.
freshman courses.
-
initial; first.
This is my freshman year with the company.
Gender
See -man.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of freshman
Explanation
A freshman is a student in her first year of high school or college. Being a college freshman can be a little overwhelming — it's a huge change in most people's lives. Sometimes a freshman is called a "first-year student," a term that isn't so gender-specific. However, you can also use the word freshman for a a boy or a girl. Sometimes, rather than school, a freshman is new at something else: in the US Senate, first-timers are frequently called "freshman senators." The word combines the "inexperienced" sense of fresh with man, or "person."
Vocabulary lists containing freshman
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He dropped out of Harvard after his freshman year, enrolled at MIT and dropped out in 2010 after a few months to become the fourth employee at a payments-processing firm called /dev/payments, later renamed Stripe.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 30, 2026
Recent graduate Nihar Patel hadn’t eaten lunch in the cafeteria at his Fairfield, Ohio, school since his freshman year because of lunch-shaming.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 30, 2026
A high schooler can enroll as early as freshman year and earn up to 11 college credits per semester.
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
Culver City finished second to Santa Monica in the Ocean League and has a productive freshman in Matthew Riesenberg, who has 36 hits, a .431 batting average and 29 RBIs.
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
He was a freshman now at Columbia High School, the same school I would be attending the following year.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
