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
-
Tape nerds will note that Dončić also made six 2s from the left side of the free-throw area.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
-
But then comes Pavia and his overperforming ‘Dores, the lackluster seasons and nerd-school jokes that gave way to FirstBank Stadium sell-outs and Heisman trophy campaigns.—
Andrea Williams,
Nashville Tennessean,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Tools can track a worker’s every keystroke and mouse movement and analyze his or her emails.—
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
5 Nov. 2025
-
According to Google, Gemini analyzes data on 250 million places and compares it with Street View images to find the most visible and useful landmarks.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
This is Disneyland for a certain type of poetry geek.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Dave Franco, in glasses, plays up the grinning geek factor a bit too much.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
And many Dodger fans put two and two together and deduced that Scherzer’s impending free agency was a factor in that decision.—
Jim Alexander,
Oc Register,
26 Oct. 2025
-
In addition to improving those methods, my team and other researchers have been developing ways to use AI for storm surge prediction using observed data, assessing the damage after hurricanes and processing camera images to deduce flood intensity.—
Navid Tahvildari,
The Conversation,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
In Galaxy Mapper, author Allie Summers and illustrator Sian James introduce readers to French astrophysicist Hélène Courtois, a working scientist who studies cosmography, or mapping the observable universe.—
Caroline Carlson,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
-
The phenomenon of groupthink has been studied now for decades.—
David Merritt Johns,
The Atlantic,
2 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Investigators have recovered the cockpit flight recorder and the flight data recorder, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said, in hopes of finding out more about Tuesday's tragic accident just outside of Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.—
Matt Lavietes,
NBC news,
6 Nov. 2025
-
The folks at Clifton Players decided to find out.—
David Lyman,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
That's because every possession demands rapid analysis such as reading the court, predicting opponents’ moves and making split-second decisions, all while maintaining control of the ball.—
Daryl Austin,
USA Today,
2 Nov. 2025
-
The sketch then cut to an indoor security-cam shot of him reading Post-its stuck to the fridge.—
Paula Mejía,
The Atlantic,
2 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
The researchers learned that people who ate very similarly to the portfolio diet had a 14% lower risk of developing coronary heart disease or stroke than people who ate less similarly to the diet.—
Renée Onque,
CNBC,
6 Nov. 2025
-
For example, when a manager gives feedback to a team member, Cisco's learning platform will combine that feedback with other data points, such as the employee's skills profile, to generate personalized learning recommendations.—
Kelly Jones,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Swot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swot. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share