as in nerd
a person slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits
the candidate has an army of policy wonks ready to write for him a position paper on virtually any issue
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of wonk
This is all classic Spanberger, who's long cultivated a reputation as a moderate policy wonk focused on issues like fentanyl overdoses, veterans, and agriculture.
—
Margaret Barthel, NPR, 17 June 2025
In recent years, wonks in both parties have begun to focus on government inefficiency as a problem.
—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 16 June 2025
Budget wonks have cited challenges in estimating the long-term effects of a policy that Trump has repeatedly altered and delayed at rates ranging from 10% to 50%.
—Ramsey Touchberry, The Washington Examiner, 11 June 2025
Actually using tariffs to finance a big chunk of the federal government would be a painful and perilous undertaking, budget wonks say.
—Arkansas Online, 8 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for wonk
Margaret Barthel, NPR, 17 June 2025
In recent years, wonks in both parties have begun to focus on government inefficiency as a problem.
—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 16 June 2025
Budget wonks have cited challenges in estimating the long-term effects of a policy that Trump has repeatedly altered and delayed at rates ranging from 10% to 50%.
—Ramsey Touchberry, The Washington Examiner, 11 June 2025
Actually using tariffs to finance a big chunk of the federal government would be a painful and perilous undertaking, budget wonks say.
—Arkansas Online, 8 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for wonk
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wonk
Noun
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Sure, there will always be some people who care, just as today there are nerds like me willing to debate the merits of writing for the Z80 versus the 6502 8-bit CPUs.—
Stephen Cass,
IEEE Spectrum,
23 Sep. 2025
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With the help of her best friend Tatum (Rose McGowan), boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich), and cine-literate nerds Randy (Jamie Kennedy) and Stu (Matthew Lillard), Sidney sets out to determine who’s behind the mask.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
21 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Refocusing On Long-Term Results As the marketing pendulum inevitably swings from domination by spreadsheet-wielding geeks to marketing by creative brand-builders, companies will realize that they have been overly focused on short-term results.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
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In one of our conversations, Apatow brought up the episode in which one of the geeks of Freaks and Geeks, Neal Schweiber (played by Samm Levine), confronts his philandering father by telling hostile jokes about him through a ventriloquist puppet.—
Adrienne LaFrance,
The Atlantic,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Wonk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wonk. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.
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