junior college

noun

1. 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.

2. 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.

junior college

noun

1. 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

2. the junior section of a college or university

Word History and Origins

Origin of junior college¹

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Wingfield — after two seasons at a junior college, one at New Mexico and another spent at Purdue — was seeking to raise his profile in his final season of eligibility.

From Los Angeles Times

His case for another year of eligibility centers around the season he spent at Casper College, a junior college in Wyoming.

From Los Angeles Times

“I figured not getting any offers, junior college was going to be the best place for me to grow and develop to get to the Division I level,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times

Since then, the former junior college All-American has embraced the nickname, saying, “You know what? I am Big General.”

From Los Angeles Times

They are a professional team renting space at a junior college, and the optics are terrible.

From Los Angeles Times