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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 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
-
An array of charts buried in the fine print of the state budget, unknown to all but a few fiscal nerds, details what California has collected in revenues and spent over the last half-century.—
Dan Walters,
Mercury News,
17 Feb. 2026
-
For the heartfelt poster nerd, this is where collecting grows most focussed, in the pursuit of works by an individual artist.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
16 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
High-resolution satellite imagery from February 10, 2026, analyzed by ISIS, shows Iran continuing to harden tunnel entrances at the underground complex carved into Pickaxe Mountain near Natanz.—
Farida Elsebai,
CNN Money,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Engineers will analyze how materials, production techniques, and post-treatment processes affect component life.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Their designers are a bunch of obsessive geeks, in the best way possible, who take pride in producing designs no one else can touch.—
Jakob Schiller,
Outside,
16 Feb. 2026
-
Jim described himself as a lifelong car geek, but his schoolteacher mother was a single parent.—
Jeff Gluck,
New York Times,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
At one, Bailey fully flashed back to the wedding, but the secretary at the parish claimed they were closed for the football season in 2011 (this year was deduced because Bailey’s mother Olivia died in 2012).—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Robinson’s attorneys have ramped up claims of bias as the case has advanced, even accusing news outlets of using lip readers to deduce what the defendant is whispering to his attorneys during court hearings.—
Matthew Brown,
Chicago Tribune,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
At the time of his death, he was focused on studying comets and astroids that could pose a hazard to Earth.—
Clara Harter,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Feb. 2026
-
The team studied how Fe-SMA bonds with UHPFRC, and attempted to combine the two materials.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Edmunds’ car experts compared them to find out.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
25 Feb. 2026
-
To find out Joe's latest project, visit him on Twitter.—
Joe Rao,
Space.com,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the latest effort Friday to ensure that drivers meet the federal requirements to understand English well enough to read road signs and communicate with law enforcement officers.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
21 Feb. 2026
-
The infrastructure required for the laser-writing and microscope-reading process is currently designed for massive cloud providers and national archives.—
Munis Raza,
Interesting Engineering,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
There’s not much time left to learn.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Feb. 2026
-
Griffin emphasized the need to learn how AI can improve one’s work so that a person can stay competitive in the job market.—
Michael Butler,
Miami Herald,
24 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Swot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swot. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
