freshman
Americannoun
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freshmen
plural
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a student in the first year of the course at a university, college, or high school.
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a novice; beginner.
adjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of a freshman.
to outgrow one's freshman attitudes.
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lacking seniority or experience; junior.
a freshman senator.
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required of or suitable for freshmen.
freshman courses.
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initial; first.
This is my freshman year with the company.
Gender
See -man.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
In cross-country, I was lightweight, which won me a spot on the varsity team as a freshman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
“He’s dynamic, but the problem with him is that he’s a freshman who just came into the program and is getting his feet wet,” Lara said before kickoff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
"I am very disgusted to be here, to be paying this institution to be here," freshman Eliana Dolven-Miller said.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
In 2015, he enrolled at MIT and took five graduate computer science courses as a freshman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
As a result, I threw myself into my schoolwork the next day, since I have little desire to still be a freshman when I’m fourteen or fifteen.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
Some of the freshmen, or first-year students, who spoke to the BBC had only arrived at Cornell last month.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
In fact, it wouldn’t be fully understood until much later, when the great-grandson of two men on opposite sides of that matchup emerged as one of college football’s most promising freshmen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Together the introductory courses make up about 5% of the classes freshmen take, ranging from 2% at UC Irvine to 12% at UC Merced.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Its cast includes the bickering members of a Sri Lankan hotel cleaner’s family, insecure American freshmen, dead-end third-tier college professors and their highflying Ivy League counterparts and dispirited university functionaries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
I avoid a group of freshmen, rushing by clutching armloads of books, fright covering their faces.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
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.
