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
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
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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Known for his flip-up sunglasses, Dwayne made being a math nerd cool, and his flirtatious antics and relationship with Whitley often took center stage.—
Emily Krauser,
People.com,
23 Feb. 2025
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Bravo! Adam Sandler’s Song: 50 Years In his song about 50 years of SNL, Sandler calls out things everyone knows about the show—that the cast is often visibly looking at cue cards—and things only SNL nerds and actual cast members know—that Steven Spielberg is a frequent visitor.—
Joe Berkowitz,
Vulture,
17 Feb. 2025
Verb
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This article was generated by the Kansas City Star Bot, artificial intelligence software that analyzes structured information from TomTom and applies it to templates created by journalists in the newsroom.—
Kansas City Star Bot,
Kansas City Star,
20 Feb. 2025
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The brand is known for doing personal consultations with clients to analyze their scalp health and create a personalized regimen to fit their bodies, lifestyle, and environment.—
Maggie Ryan,
Flow Space,
20 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The two central characters, a mild bespectacled middle-school geek named Hal and his hateful abusive bully of a twin brother, Bill (both are played by Christian Convery), discover the monkey sealed away in a round box.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2025
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As a lifelong geek, many of my favorite presents have been things that plug in.—
Clint Davis,
People.com,
7 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Bond was just 29 at the time, and decades away from his eventual longtime tenure as chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, but Collin correctly deduced that Bond had an impressive future ahead of him.—
Bob Goldsborough,
Chicago Tribune,
24 Jan. 2025
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The crossing entries gave me enough context to deduce the accessory type: ETON COLLAR.—
Sam Corbin,
New York Times,
27 Dec. 2024
Verb
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In January, natural gas bills in the U.S. were up about 5% from a year earlier, well above inflation overall, according to the Bank of America Institute, which studies consumer behavior.—
Paul Davidson,
USA TODAY,
25 Feb. 2025
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Lipp decided to receive the adaptive device, which Medtronic was still studying in research trials in 2021.—
Alice Park,
TIME,
24 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Now, Firefly is about to find out if its lunar program is a technical success.—
Kristin Shaw,
Ars Technica,
27 Feb. 2025
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These lists didn’t exist during the earliest days of the band, but some longtime followers may still be surprised to find out that before now, the musicians had never placed anywhere on any of these purchase-centric rosters.—
Hugh McIntyre,
Forbes,
27 Feb. 2025
Verb
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This morning’s must reads A string of at least 10 heists targeting BNSF trains in California and Arizona since last March have resulted in the theft of about $2 million worth of Nike sneakers.—
Ryan Fonseca,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Feb. 2025
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Learning to read those cues wasn't just a neutral process.—
Rebekah Taussig,
TIME,
24 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Nolan, who was traveling with his parents and younger brother, later learned his flight had been canceled after being pushed back multiple times.—
Zach Wichter,
USA TODAY,
18 Feb. 2025
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There’s a bit of karma in Belinda’s return; the patient spa worker from season one is back on a working vacation of her own, learning Thailand’s wellness techniques to bring them back to Hawaii.—
Alex Abad-Santos,
Vox,
17 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Swot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swot. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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