sophomore
Americannoun
-
sophomores
plural
-
a student in the second year of high school or college.
-
a person or group in the second year of any endeavor.
He's a sophomore on Wall Street.
adjective
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of or relating to a sophomore.
-
of or being a second effort or second version.
Their sophomore album was even better than their first.
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing sophomore
Made You Look: Synonyms for "Immature"
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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.
See Examples For:
A sophomore in Arizona typed an email he never sent.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
Katie Istomin, a rising sophomore at Cornell, wants to make sure that anyone she’s giving up time for will match her ambition and understand her busy schedule.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Dominic DiLettera, 19, is a sophomore in college in Rochester, N.Y.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
In Chaminade’s 38-9 win over Leilehua in Wahiawa, sophomore quarterback Jeremy Mellalieu threw two touchdown passes to Andrew Cordero while Jaxson Dillard returned an interception for a touchdown and contributed six tackles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
“It’s the longest skirt in the sophomore class.”
From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel
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
Since 2023 it has featured 28 players — seven G League players along with 21 rookies and sophomores.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026
In a season where freshmen have been making a huge impact in high school basketball, let’s not forget about the sophomores from the class of 2028.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2026
Brown President Christina Paxson said she believed the shooting happened inside a final-exam review session for a principles of economics class where most of the students in the class were freshmen or sophomores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025
On the way out, it had seemed to him that the junior varsity boat was moving better than the sophomores.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
