junior

Borrowed from Latin junior, a contraction of iuvenior (“younger”) which is the comparative of iuvenis (“young”); see juvenile.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒuːniə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒuniɚ/
• Rhymes: -uːniə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: ju‧nior

junior (not generally comparable, comparative more junior, superlative most junior)

1. (comparable) Low in rank; having a subordinate role, job, or situation.
2. (not comparable, often preceded by a possessive adjective or a possessive form of a noun) Younger.
   • 2003, Karen Frisch, Creating Junior Genealogists, →ISBN:

     Far less likely to intimidate your junior genealogist is the Internet, with its databases, message and bulletin boards, online collections, and more. Now is also the time to introduce your children to older relatives, who can be valuable resources and provide precious information.

   • 2010, Julie Cross, Humor in Contemporary Junior Literature, →ISBN, page 1:

     Humorous books for junior readers are often ignored by the critical community, due, in part, to what Milner Davis describes as a “conventional bias against comic genres” (1996: 101), and I consider this a serious oversight within the field of children's literature.

   • 2011, Julian Barnes, Knowing French (Storycuts), →ISBN:

     There she is: Lady Margaret Hall, eight years junior to me, exhibitioner where I was top scholar, and reading French. (Not veterinary science.)

   • 2012, Junior Golf in Pictures: The Junior Golfer's Handbook, →ISBN:

     A handbook for junior golfers covering a wide range of golfing instruction and information with over 250 photographs of juniors learning, playing, practicing and enjoying the game of golf.

   • 2013, Krishna Mohan Mishra, Me and Medicine, →ISBN, page 111:

     Instead of going to the unit I walked in the opposite direction towards the medicine lecture room with various thoughts going through my mind — most of them were positive as this was a great opportunity to practise what I had learnt so far and should have a good impact on students who were 3–4 years junior to me and not known to me.

3. (not comparable) Belonging to a younger person, or an earlier time of life.
   • 1642, [Thomas Browne], “(please specify the page)”, in Religio Medici, London: […] Andrew Crooke, →OCLC:

     Though our first Studies and junior Endeavours may stile us Peripateticks, Stoicks, or Academicks, yet I perceive the wisest Heads prove at last, almost all Scepticks […]

4. (not comparable, chiefly US) Of or pertaining to a third academic year in a four-year high school (eleventh grade) or university.
5. (not comparable, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Of or pertaining to the latter half of primary school education.

   Coordinate term: infant

   • 2018 October 3, Maurice Galton, Helen Patrick, Curriculum Provision in the Small Primary School, Routledge, →ISBN:

     Only about half of the schools had a single closing time, while the others organized different times for their infant and junior children.

6. (sports, US, Canada) Of or pertaining to a league or competition limited to players below a certain age or level of experience.

   junior hockey

7. (card games) Synonym of younger.
   • 1923, Ernest Bramah, The Eyes of Max Carrados:

     "Not bad for the junior hand," commented Crediton.

• juniour (obsolete)

junior (countable and uncountable, plural juniors)

1. (countable) A younger person.

   Antonym: senior

   four years his junior

   • 1922, Angela Brazil, Monitress Merle:

     Miss Mitchell would certainly be most relieved to have a monitress who was capable of organising the juniors at games.

   • 1939, P. G. Wodehouse, Uncle Fred in the Springtime:

     The last man I met who was at school with me, though some years my junior, had a long white beard and no teeth.

2. A name suffix used after a son's name when his father has the same name (abbreviations: Jnr., Jr., Jun.).
3. (uncountable) A clothing size for girls or women.

   Coordinate terms: junior miss, misses

4. (countable, chiefly US, Philippines) A third-year student at a high school or university.
5. (countable, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A student in a junior school or the second part of a primary school.

   Coordinate term: infant

   • 2013 December 19, Michelle MacGrath, The Art of Peaceful Teaching in the Primary School: Improving Behaviour and Preserving Motivation, Routledge, →ISBN:

     My son is now a junior at another, bigger school; but our hopes for his schooling have really remained the same. Of course, we want him to be able to read and keep up at maths but the fact that he is still so enthusiastic about his school and his teacher and his classmates

6. (countable, law) A junior barrister.

junior (third-person singular simple present juniors, present participle junioring, simple past and past participle juniored)

1. (ambitransitive) To work in a junior role (on something).
   • 2013, Mick Lowe, Conspiracy of Brothers, page 325:

     Greenspan had juniored the Demeter murder trial with defence lawyer Joe Pomerant and was, by 1980, well on his way to becoming the most renowned criminal lawyer in Canada.

   • 2016, Rainier George Weiner, Living on Lifesavers:

     Stephens brought with him a general manager, Bob Rodgers. Bob […] never let adversity faze him. He was always in charge. Mr. Rodgers could dance just enough to do some junioring, but acted primarily as a sales manager.

2. (transitive) To have juniors (more advanced students) assist in instructing (beginners).
   • 2006, Jim and Leann Rathbone, James Mitose and the Path of Kenpo

     The technique of "junioring" beginners and the first five lesson plan and private lessons were adaptations developed at that time. They are credited with the Americanization of Karate as a business as well as a martial art.

• “junior”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

From Latin junior.

• Audio:

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junior m (plural junioren or juniors, diminutive junioortje n)

1. junior (younger or lower-ranked person, for example in job titles)

Borrowed from Latin juniorem; Doublet of geindre. Cf. also the inherited Old French oblique case gignor.

• IPA^(key): /ʒy.njɔʁ/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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junior m or f by sense (plural juniors)

1. (sports) junior

• junior majeur

junior (plural juniors)

1. junior (all senses)

• juveigneur

• “junior”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Borrowed from Latin iunior (“younger”), from Latin iuvenis (“young”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈjunijor]
• Hyphenation: ju‧ni‧or
• Rhymes: -or

junior

1. (sports) junior

   Synonym: ifjúsági

• junior in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

• yunior

Learned borrowing from Latin junior, iūnior.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒuˈniɔr/ [d͡ʒuˈni.ɔr]
• Syllabification: ju‧ni‧or

junior (comparative lebih junior, superlative paling junior)

1. junior (having a subordinate role, job, or situation)
2. junior (belonging to a younger person, or an earlier time of life)

junior (plural junior-junior)

1. junior
2. underclassman

(noun):

• senior

• “junior”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

jūnior (comparative, neuter jūnius); third declension

1. comparative degree of juvenis

Third-declension comparative adjective.

• “junior”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Learned borrowing from Latin iūnior.

• IPA^(key): /ˈju.ɲɔr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uɲɔr
• Syllabification: ju‧nior

junior m pers (female equivalent juniorka)

1. (humorous, literary) junior (youngest member of the family by age)

   Antonyms: nestor, senior

2. junior (athlete who is under the age recommended for a sport, usually nineteen years of age)

   Antonym: senior

   Hypernym: sportowiec

junior m pers

1. Jr. (title used after a son's name when his father has the same name)

   Antonym: senior

• “junior”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[1] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “junior”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)
• junior in PWN's encyclopedia

Borrowed from French junior or Latin junior.

junior m or n (feminine singular junioră, masculine plural juniori, feminine/neuter plural juniore)

1. junior

junior m (plural juniori)

1. junior

• IPA: [ˈɟ͡ʝunjo̞r]

junior m or f (masculine and feminine plural juniors)

1. alternative form of júnior

• “junior”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “junior”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA

Borrowed from Latin junior.

junior (comparative mer junior, superlative mest junior)

1. junior

junior c

1. (sports) junior (athlete in the younger age groups)

   Antonyms: senior, oldboy

It varies from sport to sport, but typically the threshold is around 18 years of age.

• “junior”, in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker [Dictionaries of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)