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
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
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
Noun
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
Verb
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for swot
Noun
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Many of the most popular sports pundits cast off analytics as superfluous nerd drivel.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
28 Jan. 2026
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The instruction book also features a bunch of cool facts and history about the SLS — a wonderful touch for a NASA nerd like me.—
Ian Stokes,
Space.com,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The system can also analyze images to identify items and shop for similar products within a set budget.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Jan. 2026
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What researchers discovered inside iOS apps Security researchers at Cybernews, a cybersecurity research firm, analyzed the code of more than 156,000 iPhone apps.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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For airline geeks and loyal fans of the Emirates brand, the livery was probably the highlight announcement coming from Dubai this week.—
Paula Conway,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
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Featuring even more eye-popping visuals than its predecessor, Across the Spider-Verse is an animation geek's dream.—
James Mercadante,
Entertainment Weekly,
20 Jan. 2026
Verb
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While the specific Nike SB tweaks to the Air Max2 CB 94 have not been revealed, some changes can be deduced based on the imagery.—
Riley Jones,
Footwear News,
17 Jan. 2026
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Bundle also deduces that Jimmy shot his own arm at the estate to draw attention away from him and Lorraine as suspects.—
Keith Langston,
PEOPLE,
16 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Yet despite their impressive size, encounters with these enigmas remain exceedingly rare due to the myriad of challenges of studying deep-sea sharks.—
Melissa Cristina Márquez,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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The idea was first proposed in context of studying the behavior of a chimpanzee named Sarah.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Scientists have used one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers to find out how microscopic damage to turbine blades undermines jet engine performance, fuel efficiency and durability.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
28 Jan. 2026
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Read on to find out a better way to use your box grater.—
Alana Al-Hatlani,
Southern Living,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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In the meantime, read on for the ultimate Pisces 2026 horoscope.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
30 Jan. 2026
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Wild Detectives, the bookstore and coffee shop in Oak Cliff, also closed its doors on Friday in solidarity with the movement, reads a post on Instagram.—
Imelda García,
Dallas Morning News,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Advertisement Continuing to measure those risks will face challenges going forward as AI models increasingly learn to game safety tests, the report says.—
Harry Booth,
Time,
3 Feb. 2026
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Paradigm has hired veteran Talent Agent Dan Baron, along with longtime TV Lit agent Chase Northington, Deadline has learned.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
3 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Swot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swot. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
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