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:
Students must declare their major by the end of their sophomore year.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
Then 19, Desdunes, a sophomore, was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
He made a game-winning field goal as a sophomore on varsity when the other kickers were unavailable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
He didn’t play football until his sophomore year when friends asked him to join the team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
My father burst with pride when Craig became a starter as a sophomore on Princeton’s basketball team.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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
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
Since 2023, the format has been 28 players — 21 rookies and sophomores and seven G League players.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 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
He was already a junior and her program was meant for freshmen and sophomores, who are easier to get back on track than juniors and seniors.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
