Senior

//ˈsinjɚ// adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An old person. US

    "Grave and reverend seniors seemed to have caught the prevailing spirit as badly as the students, and I saw white-bearded men rising and shaking their fists at the obdurate Professor."

  2. 2
    a person who is older than you are wordnet
  3. 3
    Someone older than someone else (with possessive).

    "He was four years her senior."

  4. 4
    an undergraduate student during the year preceding graduation wordnet
  5. 5
    Someone seen as deserving respect or reverence because of their age.
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    An elder or presbyter in the early Church. obsolete

    "Then Peter full of the holy gooſt ſayd vnto them. Ye ruelars of the people / and ſeniours of iſrahel[…]."

  2. 7
    Somebody who is higher in rank, dignity, or office.
  3. 8
    A final-year student at a high school or university; a finalist. Philippines, US
Adjective
  1. 1
    Older.

    "senior citizen"

  2. 2
    Higher in rank, dignity, or office; superior.

    "senior member; senior counsel"

  3. 3
    Of or pertaining to a student's final academic year at a high school (twelfth grade) or university. US
  4. 4
    Of or pertaining to a league or competition limited to players above a certain age or level of experience. Canada, US

    "senior hockey"

Adjective
  1. 1
    used of the fourth and final year in United States high school or college wordnet
  2. 2
    advanced in years; (‘aged’ is pronounced as two syllables) wordnet
  3. 3
    older; higher in rank; longer in length of tenure or service wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
eldereldermajora per seabsoluteace

Example

More examples

"Are you a senior high school student?"

Etymology

From Middle English senior, from Latin senior (“older”), comparative form of senex (“old”); see senate. Doublet of seigneur, seignior, senhor, señor, senyor, signore, sir, and sire.

Related phrases

Senior CounselSenior-Løken syndromesenior bondsenior captainsenior chief petty officersenior chief warrant officersenior collegesenior colonelsenior highsenior high schoolsenior highersenior hurling

More for "senior"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.