junior varsity
Americannoun
-
junior varsities
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of junior varsity
First recorded in 1945–50
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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.
As a sophomore, he was on junior varsity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
The priority is getting on scouts’ radar as quickly as possible—and a season or two on junior varsity is unacceptable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 22, 2026
Eventually, Little would play in junior varsity football games as a punter, before jumping up to varsity level.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026
As a high-schooler in North Carolina, he’d been stuck on junior varsity for two years, which he later called “the best thing that could have happened.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 23, 2025
It was Comer’s first game ever on the Permian varsity, and it was only because of the injury to Boobie that he was there at all—otherwise he would have been back on the junior varsity.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
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.
