junior college

American  

noun

• junior colleges
  plural

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.

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junior college British  

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• junior colleges
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of junior college

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

junior college

She saw a Pinterest post with the saying during her first year in junior college and it resonated with her.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026

Check out social media to see the growing number of high school and junior college players suddenly searching for new schools this summer by saying, “My recruitment is back open” or announcing an “involuntary decommitment.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

Georges, the 2024 quarterback, played a year at Livingstone College in North Carolina and will play for SUNY-Erie, a junior college, this fall.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026

A Jordanian company had gotten him admitted to a junior college in a tiny town in Oklahoma.

From Slate ● Apr. 19, 2026

But for the immediate future, her plans included going to the junior college in town, Odessa College.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger

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