NERD Synonyms: 51 Similar and Opposite Words

nerd

noun

ˈnərd

Definition of nerd

as in geek

a person slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits was such a nerd in college that she spent Saturday nights at the library

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in intellectual

a person with strong intellectual interests an unlikely romance between a nerd and a campus beauty queen

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of nerd But for music nerds, the real marvel of the Québécois duo Angine de Poitrine is its arrestingly masterful microtonality. — Steve Hochman, SPIN, 15 July 2026 With Dream Con and RDC, 31-year-old Phillips is building a cross-cultural media empire for Black nerds and fandoms brick by brick. — Nathan Lately, Time, 14 July 2026 Schedule nerds may be interested that American offered 28 and 27 flights to Kansas City on July 9 and 10, with 373 and 372 flights to its Miami hub on the same two days. — Ted Reed, Forbes.com, 11 July 2026 Charging the power station through mains power was a breeze, even for a novice power station nerd like me. — Mike McRae 04, New Atlas, 5 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for nerd

Recent Examples of Synonyms for nerd

Noun

Funko occupies a massive physical footprint in a far corner of the convention center at SDCC, the annual pop culture festival that attracts over 130,000 fans and geeks from around the world.

— Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 24 July 2026
For aviation geeks or those who simply want to keep track of their plane’s unique flying data and route, squawk codes can be tracked on apps and websites like Flightradar24 and Flight Beacon.

— Staff Author, Travel + Leisure, 22 July 2026

Definition of geek

Noun

Katherine Kelaidis argues that figures such as Heather Cox Richardson, Jill Lepore, Joanne Freeman, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Kevin Kruse have become a new class of liberal public intellectuals, translating the past into political commentary.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
Childers, an associate professor of history at Colorado State University, said his concern is that, since the late 1970s, conservative intellectuals have pushed to privatize the park even further.

— Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 21 July 2026

Definition of intellectual

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Neptune

nerd

nerdish

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Style

“Nerd.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nerd. Accessed 25 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of nerd

noun

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