Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Used to distinguish a son from his father when they have the same given name.
  • adjective Intended for or including youthful persons.
  • adjective Lower in rank or shorter in length of tenure.
  • adjective Of, for, or constituting students in the third year of a US high school or college.
  • adjective Lesser in scale than the usual.
  • noun A person who is younger than another.
  • noun A person lesser in rank or time of participation or service; subordinate.
  • noun A student in the third year of a US high school or college.
  • noun A class of clothing sizes for girls and slender women.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Younger; not as old as another.
  • Younger or lower in standing, as in a profession, especially the bar: as, a junior counsel; a junior partner in a firm or company.
  • In American colleges and schools, pertaining to the third year of the course, the next below the senior or last year; in institutions having a three years' course, usually pertaining to the first year (the second being called the middle year): as, the junior class; junior students.
  • noun A person younger than another.
  • noun One of less experience or inferior standing in his profession than another, who is called his senior; one employed as the subordinate of another, especially at the bar.
  • noun In American colleges and seminaries, a member of the junior class; a student in the junior year.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A younger person.
  • noun One of a lower or later standing; specifically, in American colleges and four-year high schools, one in the third year of his course, one in the fourth or final year being designated a senior; in some seminaries, one in the first year, in others, one in the second year, of a three years' course.
  • adjective Less advanced in age than another; younger. Abbreviated Jr.
  • adjective Lower in standing or in rank, or having entered later into a position or office
  • adjective Composed of juniors, whether younger or a lower standing; ; of or pertaining to juniors or to a junior class. See Junior, n., 2.
  • adjective Belonging to a younger person, or an earlier time of life.
  • adjective of or relating to the third year of a four-year term; -- used of the third or next to final year in a U. S. high school or college. See junior{2}, n..

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective not comparable Younger.
  • adjective not comparable Of or pertaining to a third academic year in a four-year high school (eleventh grade) or university.
  • adjective comparable Low in rank; having a subordinate role, job, or situation.
  • noun A younger person.
  • noun A third-year student at a high school or university.
  • noun A name suffix used after a son's name when his father has the same name. Abbreviation: Jr.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective younger; lower in rank; shorter in length of tenure or service
  • adjective used of the third or next to final year in United States high school or college
  • noun a son who has the same first name as his father
  • noun a third-year undergraduate
  • noun term of address for a disrespectful and annoying male
  • adjective including or intended for youthful persons
  • noun the younger of two persons

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin iūnior, comparative of iuvenis, young; see yeu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin junior, contr. of juvenior, compar. of iuvenis ("young"); see juvenile.

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Examples

  • When the junior senator from Wyoming brandishes a piece of paper on the Senate floor (where, as a character points out, libel laws do not apply) to proclaim, "I have here in my hand ..." he clearly calls out the glowering ghost of the ­junior senator from Wisconsin.

    At 50, a D.C. Novel With Legs Scott Simon 2009

  • Jimmy junior is also surprised to find out he has a sister who is adopted and African-American.

    Jimmy Corrigan « So Many Books 2005

  • The Royal Ontario Museum had just begun a special program for what they called junior members and my mother signed me up at age of nine and I believe I came back you know at the end of the first session and said, I could barely pronounce the word, "I'm going to be an archaeologist."

    David Stronach: The Spearhead for the Institute 2004

  • I came back from school and I had grown up in what they called the junior auxiliary of the Episcopal church and I took the leadership of the junior auxiliary.

    Oral History Interview with Josephine Wilkins, 1972. Interview G-0063. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) 1972

  • In my own experience, the years of what we called junior high were mostly fun, a time of growing up and adjusting to crazy hormones.

    CITIZEN-TIMES.com - News 2009

  • Way back in junior high I did the science fair thing on deer behavior, I think I did a lot of stuff on moon phases, but I also remember doing a rattling demonstration somewhere in there ... funny thing is, I've never actually rattled while I was hunting.

    Proud Dad Alert! 2009

  • I remember watching it in junior high as I got ready for school each morning.

    Happy 40th birthday, Sesame Street! « Dating Jesus 2009

  • I went until I was in junior high and then I became too cool for such things.

    Happy Halloween « Dating Jesus 2009

  • One year in junior high we were assigned to keep a nightly journal.

    “When Did You Know…?” at SF Novelists 2009

  • Way back in junior high I did the science fair thing on deer behavior, I think I did a lot of stuff on moon phases, but I also remember doing a rattling demonstration somewhere in there ... funny thing is, I've never actually rattled while I was hunting.

    Proud Dad Alert! 2009

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