sophomoric

adjective

soph·o·mor·ic ˌsäf-ˈmȯr-ik

-ˈmär-,

also ˌsȯf-,

or ˌsä-fə-,

or ˌsȯ-fə-

: conceited and overconfident of knowledge but poorly informed and immature

a sophomoric argument

: lacking in maturity, taste, or judgment

sophomoric humor

Did you know?

Sophomores get a bad rap. A lot of people seem to think they're foolish (no matter what they do), when they themselves 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

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All around the world, political discourse has turned ugly—with a frequent focus on sophomoric and polarizing name-calling rather than a mature discussion of policy differences. —

Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes, 3 Sep. 2024 Brainwashing corruption also occurs at the movies, proven by the year’s highest-grossing film, Inside Out 2, a sophomoric rationalization of the psychological effects of Covid psyops. —

Armond White, National Review, 12 July 2024 The proudly sophomoric pop-punk trio from Southern California is three decades into their run as arguably the most successful full-throttle pop-punk trio, not counting Green Day. —

Stefan Stevenson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 June 2024 This is just one of the bizarre, disorienting moments from a show that is sophomoric in its sensibility and half-baked in its execution. —

E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2024 See all Example Sentences for sophomoric