sophomore

American  

[sof-uh-mawr, -mohr, sof-mawr, -mohr] / ˈsɒf əˌmɔr, -ˌmoʊr, ˈsɒf mɔr, -moʊr /

noun

• sophomores
  plural

1. 

   a student in the second year of high school or college.

2. a person or group in the second year of any endeavor.

   He's a sophomore on Wall Street.

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adjective

1. of or relating to a sophomore.

2. of or being a second effort or second version.

   Their sophomore album was even better than their first.

sophomore British  

/ ˈsɒfəˌmɔː /

noun

1. a second-year student at a secondary (high) school or college

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adjective

1. (of a book, recording, etc by an artist) second

   her sophomore album

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• presophomore
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• sophomores
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sophomore

1645–55; earlier sophumer, probably equivalent to sophum sophism + -er ¹

Explanation

A sophomore is in their second year, either in high school or college. Once you became a sophomore, thinking you now knew everything, you pitied the freshmen for their confusion over how to write college papers. Sophomore comes from the word sophism which means "a bad argument that's clever but false," and that's sometimes how sophomores in college act. They're not bright-eyed newcomers anymore, and think they know a lot, but really they've much to learn. We also use the word for other seconds: a band's second album is usually called their sophomore album.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sophomore sophomores

“I’ve Seen It” is the final track on Dean’s sophomore album “The Art of Loving,” released in September 2025.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

The Wolverines were fighting to keep their hopes in the Big Ten alive, trailing Minnesota 20-14 on Saturday afternoon, when sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood faced a fourth-and-5.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

Mater Dei’s defensive line had a solid game, holding Santa Margarita star sophomore running back Adrian Petero to 41 yards on 11 carries, although he scored his team’s first touchdown.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

Last year, New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye had the opposite of a sophomore slump.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

He’d dropped out his sophomore year after his son was born, because his wife was sick and there was a mound of medical bills.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Fortunately, my English teacher, Thomas Dolan, suggested I join Stuyvesant’s SING!, in which freshmen and sophomores competed against juniors and seniors in original productions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

So are more college freshmen and sophomores, in the hopes of improving their own hiring chances later on, campus career counselors say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026

Bringas and Feuer have partnered at Ojai the last three years, losing in the quarterfinal round as sophomores and juniors but steamrolling this year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2026

Their vision, combined with the persistence of fellow Crossroads sophomores Samantha Leeds and Hannah Carey, has birthed the L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2026

At each stop Ulbrickson had to explain, all over again, to his coaching counterpart that, yes, indeed, he planned to send the sophomores off in the junior varsity boat.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Related Words

• graduate student
• learner
• senior
• student
• undergraduate