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Sophomores get a bad rap. A lot of people seem to think they're foolish (no matter what they do), when they know they're pretty wise. The history of the words sophomore and sophomoric (which developed from sophomore) proves that it has always been tough to be a sophomore. Those words probably come from a combination of the Greek terms sophos (which means "wise") and mōros (which means "foolish"). But sophomores can take comfort in the fact that some very impressive words, including philosopher and sophisticated, are also related to sophos.

Examples of sophomoric in a Sentence

His behavior at the party was sophomoric.

Recent Examples on the Web Along the way, Donaldson has aligned himself with a prominent generation of young YouTube dudes who love sophomoric comedy, video games and escalating dares. — Mark Bergen, Bloomberg.com, "The North Carolina Kid Who Cracked YouTube’s Secret Code," 22 Dec. 2020 Felix relates to his daughter on a sophomoric level. — Armond White, National Review, "Sofia Coppola’s Cinema-of-Privilege," 23 Oct. 2020 Realigning themselves with sophomoric virtues, the stars sell their souls in accommodation to the insensate new era. — Armond White, National Review, "Stevie Nicks, Like Springsteen, Preaches and Preens," 28 Oct. 2020 Rogen is an always likeable actor whose reputation was built largely on playing crude, sophomoric stoners. — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, "'An American Pickle': Film Review," 3 Aug. 2020 After learning about Jimmy’s sophomoric attacks on Howard, Kim suggests new and even more juvenile pranks to Jimmy. — David Segal, New York Times, "‘Better Call Saul’ Season 5 Finale Recap: Close Calls," 20 Apr. 2020 Why stage director Amy Hutchison chose to allow or encourage over-the-top, buffoonish acting remains a mystery, the sophomoric antics demeaning the score’s beauties. — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, "Reviews: Jazz Institute’s 50th; Grant Park Orchestra’s ‘Missa Solemnis’; ‘Flower of Hawaii’," 30 June 2019 Sadly, Truth Be Told doesn’t seem to have much to say on their plight that superior predecessors including Netflix’s hilariously sophomoric true-crime mockumentary American Vandal haven’t already covered. — Judy Berman, Time, "True Crime Drama Truth Be Told Isn't a Disaster—But It's Everything That's Wrong With Apple TV+," 3 Dec. 2019 Yet there’s no better example of the genius of Big Mouth—a comedy that nails the sophomoric physical humor of preadolescence but whose hilarious portrait of puberty is really a mirror held up to adult sexuality—more than what follows. — Judy Berman, Time, "WHAT IS THE FUEL OF THE FUTURE?," 4 Oct. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sophomoric.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.