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
Ruby Tandoh, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
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
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
Nobody talked about the furtive ambition of the swots.
—Ruby Tandoh, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
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
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Here, Deadline speaks with the multi-hyphenate about her Kickstarter campaign, the challenges of creating a series and representation in the nerd space.—
Destiny Jackson,
Deadline,
3 Oct. 2025
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But hey, whiskey nerds are gonna whiskey nerd and whiskey sellers are gonna gouge.—
Jonah Flicker,
Robb Report,
28 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The study analyzed blood samples from 47 patients with severe ME/CFS and 61 healthy controls, revealing a unique pattern consistently present in patients with the condition.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Oct. 2025
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Behaviours are measured through 360-degree reviews and employee surveys, where data can be broken down by function to analyze the individual impact of leaders.—
Jessica Coacci,
Fortune,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The program is designed to follow orders from its user, Julian, a tech geek with a god complex.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Oct. 2025
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The air is getting chilly, the leaves are starting to turn, and Oscar geeks are analyzing the buzz out of Venice, Telluride, and Toronto like tea leaves at the bottom of a mug — that’s right, Oscar season is here.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
27 Sep. 2025
Verb
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There’s one song to deduce each day.—
Kris Holt,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
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Someone will look back on 2025 and pick through the mountain of symphonies and movies and novels and museum exhibits that were being offered this fall and will deduce this was what America and Chicago were thinking in 2025.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
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But that's nothing new, say linguists and others who study verbal communication.—
Phaedra Trethan,
USA Today,
5 Oct. 2025
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Looking ahead, China plans to launch its Chang’e-7 lunar probe around 2026, carrying instruments such as a seismograph to study the moon’s internal structure.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The boys — then ages 8, 10 and 12 — were kicked out after other school parents found out about the OnlyFans content created by Jackson and her husband.—
Zoey Lyttle,
PEOPLE,
2 Oct. 2025
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Let’s go down a research hole to find out if the revenge game narrative actually holds any weight.—
Dan Santaromita,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The brand said in April 2021 that encrypted password information was also included within the leak, but the encryption keys to read those passwords weren’t accessed.—
James Peckham,
PC Magazine,
6 Oct. 2025
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Banned Books Week is a movement that celebrates the freedom to read, while drawing attention to censorship of literature in libraries, schools and bookstores.—
Greta Cross,
USA Today,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The Tennessean requested additional records to learn how many of those students are enrolled at each school, along with more detailed demographic information on the students.—
Rachel Wegner,
Nashville Tennessean,
3 Oct. 2025
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Mendelson couldn't be more excited for a new audience to learn about the legend who rewrote Hollywood's rules, captivated crowds and devoted her platform to the AIDS crisis.—
Bryan West,
USA Today,
3 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Swot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swot. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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