senior
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Higher in rank, dignity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
seenyerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsinjɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Higher in rank, dignity, or office; superior.
Older; higher in rank; longer in length of tenure or service
us
Of or pertaining to a student's final academic year at a high school (twelfth grade) or university.
noun
A person who is older than you are
Someone older than someone else (with possessive).
Someone seen as deserving respect or reverence because of their age.
usphilippines
A final-year student at a high school or university; a finalist.
Somebody who is higher in rank, dignity, or office.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or pertaining to a student's final academic year at a high school (twelfth grade) or university.
Used this way, senior is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in academic writing and education or classroom contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
- Education/classroom
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use senior
- “My grandmother attends a senior center for activities.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An elderly person.
Final grade or class in high school or college.
A public secondary school usually including grades 9 through 12.
A public secondary school usually including grades 9 through 12.
A senior noncommissioned officer in the Air Force with a rank comparable to master sergeant in the Army.
A momentary lapse of memory (especially in older people).
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: higher in rank or dignity or or office
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.