sophomore
a second-year university student
TRANSLATION
sophomore = Student im 2. Studienjahr --- GOOGLE INDEX sophomore: approximately 14,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
The 15-year-old SOPHOMORE has devoted herself to working on her basketball skills with her stepfather since she was 9, and the results have been impressive.
(The Los Angeles Times)
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Black Stone Cherry's SOPHOMORE album has received rave reviews from music lovers around the country, and was placed first on the charts in the United Kingdom when it came out in August.
(Bismark Tribune)
(The Los Angeles Times)
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Black Stone Cherry's SOPHOMORE album has received rave reviews from music lovers around the country, and was placed first on the charts in the United Kingdom when it came out in August.
(Bismark Tribune)
Did you
know?
sophomore
noun
- a second-year student in a U.S. college.
- a tenth-grade student in a U.S. high school.
- a person in the second year of carrying out an endeavor.
(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
sophomoric
adjective
- exhibiting great immaturity and lack of judgement
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WORD ORIGIN
The earlier form of sophomore was "sophumer" (circa 1650), which was used to describe a second-year college student. It derived from "sophism," a clever or false argument and further from the Greek "sophos," meaning wise. Sophomore and the adjective sophomoric were probably influenced by the Greek "sophos" (wise) and "moros" (foolish, dull).
The concept of combining wise and foolish stems from the idea that a second-year student is someone who is intellectually mature but whose behaviour can be childish. In other words, he may be smart, but he’s still just a kid. At the risk of generalising, this aptly describes many second-year U.S. college students. This is the stereotype of (usually) young men who, after reading Shakespeare and solving quantum physics problems, play tricks on fellow students and drink themselves into a coma.
Apart from the original meaning of a second-year student, sophomore is also used to describe someone other than a student who is in the second year of an activity. For instance, a politician in the second year of a four-year term might be called "the sophomore congressman from New York." A football player in his second season as a professional might be referred to as "the sophomore striker."
Lastly, sophomore can be used to describe the second in a series of something (The company’s sophomore product release has sold well in Europe).
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"I first met her when we were both sophomores at Stanford."
noun
- a second-year student in a U.S. college.
- a tenth-grade student in a U.S. high school.
- a person in the second year of carrying out an endeavor.
(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
sophomoric
adjective
- exhibiting great immaturity and lack of judgement
---
WORD ORIGIN
The earlier form of sophomore was "sophumer" (circa 1650), which was used to describe a second-year college student. It derived from "sophism," a clever or false argument and further from the Greek "sophos," meaning wise. Sophomore and the adjective sophomoric were probably influenced by the Greek "sophos" (wise) and "moros" (foolish, dull).
The concept of combining wise and foolish stems from the idea that a second-year student is someone who is intellectually mature but whose behaviour can be childish. In other words, he may be smart, but he’s still just a kid. At the risk of generalising, this aptly describes many second-year U.S. college students. This is the stereotype of (usually) young men who, after reading Shakespeare and solving quantum physics problems, play tricks on fellow students and drink themselves into a coma.
Apart from the original meaning of a second-year student, sophomore is also used to describe someone other than a student who is in the second year of an activity. For instance, a politician in the second year of a four-year term might be called "the sophomore congressman from New York." A football player in his second season as a professional might be referred to as "the sophomore striker."
Lastly, sophomore can be used to describe the second in a series of something (The company’s sophomore product release has sold well in Europe).
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"I first met her when we were both sophomores at Stanford."
