first-year

noun

ˈfərst-ˌyir 

variants or first year

plural first-years or first years

: a student in the first year (as at a high school or college) : a first-year student

Experts say fledgling first-years can expect to experience the thrill of autonomy, of being in the driver's seat for what may be the first time ever.

—Jan McCoy Ebbets

Examples of first-year in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the meantime, the Seahawks have been busy getting adjusted to first-year offensive coordinator Brian Fleury’s system ahead of Wednesday’s season opener. — Andrew Destin, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026

Baltimore has a new voice in first-year coach Jesse Minter, and Lamar Jackson figures to play looser because of it. — Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2026

By this time, the crude deep-learning techniques behind WHEEP-3 had long become obsolete, and similar neural networks were only used as toys in problem sets intended for first-year undergraduates. — Literary Hub, 9 Sep. 2026

The Tigers, in front of 64,300 fans, raced to a 21-6 start and never looked back in a 31-6 victory over KU and its first-year QB, who went on to be a four-year starter. — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 9 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1986, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for first-year

• atmosphere
• biosphere
• centromere
• chemosphere
• chromosphere
• hemisphere
• hydrosphere
• lithosphere
• mesosphere
• microsphere
• miserere
• mountaineer