junior college
Americannoun
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a collegiate institution offering courses only through the first one or two years of college instruction and granting a certificate of title instead of a degree.
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a division of a college, university, or university system offering general courses during the first two years of instruction or fulfilling administrative duties applicable to freshmen and sophomores.
noun
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an educational establishment providing a two-year course that either terminates with an associate degree or is the equivalent of the freshman and sophomore years of a four-year undergraduate course
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the junior section of a college or university
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of junior college
An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900
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 was sitting in the mid-90s as a high-schooler in the suburbs of Kansas City and reached 100 while pitching in junior college, as he grew into his 6-foot-7 frame.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
A Jordanian company had gotten him admitted to a junior college in a tiny town in Oklahoma.
From Slate ● Apr. 19, 2026
He ended up at Northwest Florida State, a junior college in Niceville, Fla., before signing with Auburn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026
The only school that expressed any interest was Hocking College, a junior college in the middle of Athens County, Ohio.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 19, 2025
Anyway, he had to go to a junior college.
From "Slam!" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
