junior Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun term of address for a disrespectful and annoying male
- look here, junior, it's none of your business
noun a third-year undergraduate
noun the younger of two persons
- she is two years my junior
noun a son who has the same first name as his father
Jnr; Jr.
adjective younger; lower in rank; shorter in length of tenure or service
adjective satellite used of the third or next to final year in United States high school or college
next-to-last; third-year.
- the junior class
- a third-year student
adjective satellite including or intended for youthful persons
- a junior sports league
- junior fashions

L. contr. fr. juvenior, compar. of juvenis young. See Juvenile.

Less advanced in age than another; younger. ✍ Junior is applied to distinguish the younger of two persons bearing the same name in the same family, and is opposed to senior or elder. Commonly applied to a son who has the same Christian name as his father.
Lower in standing or in rank; later in office; as, a junior partner; junior counsel; junior captain.
Composed of juniors, whether younger or a lower standing; as, the junior class; of or pertaining to juniors or to a junior class. See Junior, n., 2.
Belonging to a younger person, or an earlier time of life.
Our first studies and junior endeavors. Sir T. Browne.

A younger person.
His junior she, by thirty years. Byron.
Hence: One of a lower or later standing; specifically, in American colleges, 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.