Word
sophomore
Phoneticssopho·more
US/ˈsɑfˌmɔɹ/
UK/sˈɒfəmˌɔː/
Definitions
01second-year student
n. a student in their second year of a four-year high school or college.
n. a student in the second year of a four-year educational programme, typically tenth grade in high school or the second year of university.
“As a sophomore, she finally felt comfortable navigating the large university campus.”
“The university offers specific career workshops for sophomores to help them declare their majors before entering their junior year.”
American English
Usage
In the US, this follows 'freshman' and precedes 'junior'.
Synonyms
02the second in a series
adj. the second of something, especially a second music album or a second professional season.
adj. pertaining to the second iteration of a series, particularly regarding an artist's second album or an athlete's second year of competition.
“The band's sophomore album was even more successful than their first one.”
“Critics often discuss the 'sophomore slump', where an artist's second major project fails to live up to the high expectations set by their debut.”
American English · Formal
Teaching tip
While technically an adjective here, it is almost exclusively used in the context of 'sophomore album' or 'sophomore season'.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From earlier sophumer, from the obsolete sophom, sophum (“sophism or dialectical exercise”), from Ancient Greek σόφισμα (sóphisma). Likely influenced by Ancient Greek σοφός (sophós, “wise”) + μωρός (mōrós, “fool”). Compare oxymoron (literally “sharp-dull”), a similar contradiction.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Related words
Domain
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englishreference.com/q/sophomore