sophomore
Americannoun
-
sophomores
plural
-
a student in the second year of high school or college.
-
a person or group in the second year of any endeavor.
He's a sophomore on Wall Street.
adjective
-
of or relating to a sophomore.
-
of or being a second effort or second version.
Their sophomore album was even better than their first.
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sophomore
1645–55; earlier sophumer, probably equivalent to sophum sophism + -er 1
Explanation
A sophomore is in their second year, either in high school or college. Once you became a sophomore, thinking you now knew everything, you pitied the freshmen for their confusion over how to write college papers. Sophomore comes from the word sophism which means "a bad argument that's clever but false," and that's sometimes how sophomores in college act. They're not bright-eyed newcomers anymore, and think they know a lot, but really they've much to learn. We also use the word for other seconds: a band's second album is usually called their sophomore album.
Vocabulary lists containing sophomore
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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.
See Examples For:
Moaalii has nine touchdown receptions and is having a breakout sophomore season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2026
She is now a sophomore engineering student and has rented a house near campus with four friends.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 24, 2026
Dieffenbach was a wiry 6-foot-3 receiver preparing for his sophomore season in 2020 when coach Dustin Croick took over the Agoura football program.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
“There’s this perception that college students don’t want to pursue God, and that is the farthest thing from the truth,” said Ella Wang, a Duke University sophomore who attended a recent visit by the Knechtles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
When Roosevelt was a sophomore in college, his father died of cancer, and he retreated to his family’s country home in Oyster Bay, New York.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
Fortunately, my English teacher, Thomas Dolan, suggested I join Stuyvesant’s SING!, in which freshmen and sophomores competed against juniors and seniors in original productions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Bringas and Feuer have partnered at Ojai the last three years, losing in the quarterfinal round as sophomores and juniors but steamrolling this year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2026
Benett Pace hit a home run and sophomores Jason Taylor and Zane Scott each delivered two-run singles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026
Brown President Christina Paxson said she believed the shooting happened inside a final-exam review session for a principles of economics class where most of the students in the class were freshmen or sophomores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025
I didn’t realize college sophomores could live like this.
From "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
