junior

Having a lower position or less responsibility in an organization.

• He is a junior doctor.
• Junior staff receive training every month.
• She was promoted from a junior position last year.

How to use it: junior to someone (She is junior to the department manager.)

Similar words: lower-ranking, subordinate

Opposites: senior

Common phrases: junior staff, junior manager, junior officer

Younger than another person, or intended for younger people.

• The junior members sat together.
• The club runs classes for junior players.
• Only children under twelve can enter the junior race.

Similar words: younger

Opposites: senior, older

Common phrases: junior members, junior players, junior school

Relating to the third year of a four-year high school or university course.

• She is in her junior year.
• We met during our junior year at college.
• The junior class organized a school fundraiser.

Similar words: third-year

Common phrases: junior year, junior class, junior prom

Having less experience, or belonging to a competition for younger or less experienced players.

• He plays in a junior league.
• The junior senator has served for only two years.
• She won her first junior championship last summer.

Similar words: less experienced

Opposites: senior

Common phrases: junior league, junior competition, junior senator

A student in the third year of a four-year high school or university course.

• My brother is a junior.
• The juniors are planning a class trip.
• As a college junior, she started applying for summer jobs.

How to use it: a junior at a school/university (She is a junior at a university in Boston.)

Similar words: third-year student

Common phrases: college junior, high school junior, a junior at

Someone younger than another person, often by a stated number of years.

• She is two years my junior.
• His wife is his junior by six years.
• Most members of the club are my juniors.

How to use it: a number of years someone’s junior (Her husband is five years her junior.); someone’s junior by a number of years (He is my junior by three years.)

Opposites: senior

Common phrases: someone’s junior, years someone’s junior, my junior

A word added after a son’s name when he has the same name as his father.

• His full name is Robert Hill junior.
• Do you mean Daniel Brown junior or his father?
• Everyone calls William junior by his middle name.

Opposites: senior

Common phrases: John Smith junior, junior or senior