varsity
varsity Lexical Profile
varsity Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
North American Relating to or designating the principal team representing a high school, college, or university in athletics or other competitions.
"The school's varsity basketball players wore their new letterman jackets to the pep rally."
• noun
North American The principal team representing a high school, college, or university in a sport or other competition.
"She practiced all summer in hopes of making the varsity for soccer."
British A university, especially Oxford or Cambridge.
"Thousands of spectators gathered along the river for the annual boat race between the two historic varsities."
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the mid-19th century as a colloquial British student shortening and phonetic alteration of 'university', reflecting the historical tendency in English to pronounce '-er-' before a consonant as '-ar-' (as in 'clerk' and 'derby').
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.