sophomore

American  

[sof-uh-mawr, -mohr, sof-mawr, -mohr] / ˈsɒf əˌmɔr, -ˌmoʊr, ˈsɒf mɔr, -moʊr /

noun

• sophomores
  plural

1. a student in the second year of high school or college.

2. a person or group in the second year of any endeavor.

   He's a sophomore on Wall Street.

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adjective

1. of or relating to a sophomore.

2. of or being a second effort or second version.

   Their sophomore album was even better than their first.

sophomore British  

/ ˈsɒfəˌmɔː /

noun

1. a second-year student at a secondary (high) school or college

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adjective

1. (of a book, recording, etc by an artist) second

   her sophomore album

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• presophomore
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• sophomores
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sophomore sophomores

There’s his younger brother, Jake, a sophomore middle linebacker and his catcher since birth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Word-of-mouth for her sophomore novel “The Immortalists,” about a quartet of siblings who all learn the exact date of their future deaths, was uncontainable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

All signs pointed toward him taking a major leap as a sophomore.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday indicating it has raised a $400 million sophomore fund.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

The college sophomore Dad Charity introduced Jupe to last year after she sat in on his History of the African American Experience course—Dad’s a professor at Emory, by the way—because he thought they’d “really vibe.”

From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone

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

Many of the players who were sophomores on the 2024 team are coming through this season, led by pitcher/infielder Jayden Rojas, who’s 2-0 on the mound and hitting .385.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026

Since 2023 it has featured 28 players — seven G League players along with 21 rookies and sophomores.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 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

The sophomores, on the other hand, had won by the narrowest of margins, and they had caused their coach a good deal of heartburn while he waited for the official results.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Related Words

• graduate student
• learner
• senior
• student
• undergraduate