What does "sophomore" mean?

A second-year undergraduate student in a college or university, or a second-year student in a four-year secondary school or high school.

What is a synonym for "sophomore"?

Common synonyms include: cadet, eighth grade, freshman, junior, midshipman, second year.

Sophomore

//ˈsɑfmɔɹ// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
A second-year undergraduate student in a college or university, or a second-year student in a four-year secondary school or high school. Philippines, US
"She was very mature for a sophomore and had several friends who were juniors or even seniors."
2
a second-year undergraduate wordnet
3
A three-year-old horse. US
"The filly had looked promising as a sophomore, but concerns over her health had prompted the owner to pull her from the season’s early races."

Adjective

1
The second in a series, especially, the second of an artist’s albums or the second of four years in a high school (tenth grade) or university. US, not-comparable
"The band’s sophomore album built upon the success of their debut release, catapulting them to megastardom."
2
Sophomoric. not-comparable

Adjective

1
used of the second year in United States high school or college wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

cadet eighth grade freshman junior midshipman second year

Example

More examples

"I can't believe Tom is already a sophomore."

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.

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