as in nerd
a person slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits
every time he begged off a night at the pub—saying he had to study—his mates teased him for being a swot
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Recent Examples of swot
The Economist, 13 June 2020
Greenblatt might want to have a chinwag with some of his colleagues in the history department and swot up the biography of someone like Wisconsin’s Robert La Follette, a progressive populist politician perhaps more to his liking.
—Alex Beam, BostonGlobe.com, 2 May 2018
John McIntyre, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 July 2023
So, swot up, then delegate.
—Barnaby Lashbrooke, Forbes, 4 May 2021
Noun
Yamada Jun, the IT expert, became the CEO and travelled to Germany to swot up on renewables.
—The Economist, 13 June 2020
Greenblatt might want to have a chinwag with some of his colleagues in the history department and swot up the biography of someone like Wisconsin’s Robert La Follette, a progressive populist politician perhaps more to his liking.
—Alex Beam, BostonGlobe.com, 2 May 2018
Verb
The Oxbridge and Ivy League colleges traditionally had disparaging terms for students who worked too hard and devoted themselves too diligently to learning: swot in England, grind in the United States.
—John McIntyre, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 July 2023
So, swot up, then delegate.
—Barnaby Lashbrooke, Forbes, 4 May 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for swot
Noun
-
As a film nerd with a 37-inch vertical, Nique Clifford only borrows from the best.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
24 June 2025
-
Music supervisor is a job that is part professional music nerd, part aural detective and part crate-digging business affairs exec.—
Peter White,
Deadline,
20 June 2025
Verb
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Create a system to analyze triggers and leverage them for self-development.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
20 June 2025
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Get out of the way, nerds, some of us cool kids are trying to analyze decades-old YouTube sports clips.—
Sean McIndoe,
New York Times,
20 June 2025
Noun
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Desperate to return to his own era to help save his kin, Rex must team up with a gang of nerds, freaks and geeks to go back 65 million years in time.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
10 June 2025
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Cynthia Erivo sang-hosted the June 8 ceremony from Radio City Music Hall, making several dreams come true for a room full of theater geeks.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
9 June 2025
Verb
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In other, arguably more significant developments, the Croat deduced that Negan had squashed the Dama’s pet rat and attacked the Saviors’ former leader with Lucille 2.0.—
Charlie Mason,
TVLine,
8 June 2025
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But analysts say the main points are easy to deduce from public statements by Mr. Putin and other Russian leaders.—
Fred Weir,
Christian Science Monitor,
30 May 2025
Verb
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Leadership roles and extracurricular activities have prepared Poway High School Salutatorian Michael Markoff to tackle the challenges of studying medicine at UCLA this fall.—
Julie Gallant,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
24 June 2025
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Rebecca studied English and art history at Cornell University and served in the Peace Corps in Thailand.—
Rebecca Grant
June 24,
Literary Hub,
24 June 2025
Verb
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Jordan had found out that her husband, Charles Marter, was an executive at Gulf National Bank and decided to target the couple for ransom money, court records said.—
Amanda Lee Myers,
USA Today,
27 June 2025
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Its mission was to find out whether Mars ever had the right environmental conditions to support life, and, early on, the rover discovered chemical and mineral evidence of habitable environments from the past.—
Greg Wehner,
FOXNews.com,
27 June 2025
Verb
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November 18 will also see Simon & Schuster release an unabridged audiobook of 2004’s Chronicles: Volume One, read by Sean Penn.—
Walden Green,
Pitchfork,
25 June 2025
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Joshua Jackson and Busy Philipps coordinate their pinks and have a Dawson's Creek reunion at the MPTF NextGen Annual Summer Party fundraiser on June 22 in L.A. Walton Goggins reads a short story to announce Jimmy John's Summer Menu of Ultimate Temptation (S.M.U.T.) in New York City on June 23.—
Toria Sheffield,
People.com,
24 June 2025
Verb
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The key is to know yourself and schedule a vacation that fits you, not to overthink (and over-plan) things, and learn from your mistakes.—
Lieke ten Brummelhuis,
Forbes.com,
29 June 2025
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Most life on Earth, including humans, learns by moving, touching, failing, and adjusting.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
29 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Swot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swot. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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