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Glite Dictionary
junior class

junior class

3 2.1
The year before the final year in high school or college, usually the third of four years
  • noun
  • /ˈdʒuːniər klæs/
  • US
translation icon : clase de penúltimo año
  • At the age of seventeen, he is in the top tier of this junior class, compiling good grades and high SAT scores.
  • junior class president
  • junior class sponsor
  • junior class record

Examples

  • An NSF grant kick-started the development process, and we introduced the revised curriculum to our junior class two years later in the fall of 1997.

    Academic text (2003)

  • At a junior class assembly held at the end of the school year, we announced the unofficial data we had recently received for the April ACT college admission scores.

    Academic text (2015)

  • Half the guys in the junior class are crazy to take you out.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • And then the junior class president, Ben, decided to pool his friends together and have them vote for "Welcome to the Jungle."

    American Teen (2008)

  • I apologize to Miss Lundeen and the junior class.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • This year, the Eurekaville High School junior class has brought bleachers.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Last year, the winning float, built by the junior class council, depicted Mickey Mouse on a steamboat.

    Blog text (22)

  • We thought that Ms. Everson would have time to be junior class sponsor and help the class prepare for the junior-senior prom in May.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Wouldn't you know the car is filled with scrubbed, exuberant American high school students, a junior class from Kenosha, Wisconsin, on a summer field trip.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The students in the junior class are preparing for their college applications this year.

Synonyms

junior
vsjunior class
  • US
140 2.4

A student in the third year of university or college

refers to the whole year group rather than one student

Antonyms

senior class
  • US
20 2.8

Students who are in their last year of high school or college

How Advanced

senior class
  • US
20 2.8
junior class
  • US
3 2.1
sophomore class
  • US
3 2.3
freshman class
  • US
11 2.4

Surface Forms

junior class singular
junior classes plural

Morphology

junior + class

The meaning 'the penultimate year/group of students' is directly derived from combining 'junior' (relating to the third or lower-year level) with 'class' (a group of students). This adjective + noun educational construction is common and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Junior class comes from the words junior, meaning 'younger' or lower in rank, and class, a group of students by year. That's why a junior class is the group of students one year before the last year, so in a four-year school it usually means the third year.