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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He's helped by Piggy (David McKenna), the prototypical nerd with asthma and an unfortunate nickname, but one of the only boys thinking of the practicalities of their survival.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
4 May 2026
-
But the technical review seems to go well, nerd-to-nerd.—
Neil Senturia,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 May 2026
Verb
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Two tested negative, while the third result was still being analyzed, according to the statement.—
Eve Chen,
USA Today,
8 May 2026
-
This article was generated by the CA Earthquake Bot, software that analyzes structured information, such as data, and applies it to articles based on templates created by journalists in the newsroom.—
CA Earthquake Bot,
Sacbee.com,
7 May 2026
Noun
-
As played by Justin Theroux, Barnes is clearly inspired by Bezos — and not just because Barnes has undergone a dramatic body transformation from nebbishy tech geek to buff, balding mogul.—
Martha Ross,
Mercury News,
4 May 2026
-
See video … ASRA NOMANI — Suspect in WHCD operated and lived in an ecosystem that too him from nerdy geek to attacker.—
,
FOXNews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Observe the damage characteristics, such as hole shape, size, and nearby tracks, to deduce which animal is responsible.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
6 May 2026
-
From that, Clemente deduced that Guthrie was kidnapped by just one person.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Stanford University even studied Chino as a model for post-COVID academic recovery.—
Jemma Stephenson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 May 2026
-
So scientists like McClymont look for clever ways to study obscure features of the past, such as her research focus of how the Antarctic environment has changed over tens of thousands of years.—
Hannah Richter,
Scientific American,
7 May 2026
Verb
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Their calculations analyzed factors including geometry, friction, as well as motion dynamics to find out how effectively the chains could wrap around drone rotors during flight.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
6 May 2026
-
Since then, thousands have flocked to theaters nationwide to see the award-winning performer and find out what all the fuss is about.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
6 May 2026
Verb
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Those of us who subscribe and read the paper each and every day know the coverage of the deplorable Operation Midway Blitz has been outstanding, and now the world knows too.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
9 May 2026
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These intimate reflections read like pages taken from private diaries, with all the informality and vulnerability of that genre, including misspellings and stray thoughts.—
Casey Cep,
New Yorker,
9 May 2026
Verb
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Senior second baseman Alexis Richter has learned a lot about playing softball from her three older sisters.—
Tony Baranek,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Apr. 2026
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The wife and mother of two people who died on the Titanic submersible is sharing what she's learned about grief and life after loss.—
Sara Moniuszko,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Swot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swot. Accessed 11 May. 2026.
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