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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Art history nerds will want to be sure to stop in for a look at one of Pieter Bruegel’s The Tower of Babel (1568) paintings.—
Chadd Scott,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2025
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In the wake of voice actor Pamela Hayden's retirement, The Simpsons' beloved blue-haired nerd Milhouse Van Houten will now be played by singer Kelly Macleod, Entertainment Weekly can exclusively reveal.—
Wesley Stenzel,
EW.com,
16 May 2025
Verb
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This includes the Dialogue Agent, which allows both data teams and non-technical users to interact with structured data through natural language queries, and the Explanation Agent, which analyzes query results and provides clear, summarized insights.—
Andre Claudio,
Sourcing Journal,
27 May 2025
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The Swiss start-up team, with an average age of 23, will analyze data from their base in Lecaute, France, and plan to return to the water when conditions allow.—
Michael Verdon,
Robb Report,
27 May 2025
Noun
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Owner David Rubenstein needs to get rid of Elias (maybe Cal Ripken Jr. would agree to the job) and get baseball people instead of computer geeks to run the team.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
22 May 2025
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Jon Cherry/Getty Images For years, crypto was viewed by many as a weird and fringe investment, hyped up by a bunch of math geeks and used widely by all kinds of unsavory characters, from drug dealers to hackers.—
Rafael Nam,
NPR,
19 May 2025
Verb
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But part of the trade math moving forward will also likely be deducing if nations threatening digital services taxes or tariffs can actually follow through on those threats.—
Ashley Belanger – May 20,
ArsTechnica,
20 May 2025
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Flask samples still deduce sources’ CO2 fingerprints.—
Ashley Braun,
Smithsonian Magazine,
19 May 2025
Verb
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The club is studying this and do not believe Pintus is the sole contributing factor.—
Mario Cortegana,
New York Times,
19 May 2025
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Catharine Biddle, who studies rural education at the University of Maine, says families in the state frequently encounter long waitlists for private mental health services for their children.—
Jonaki Mehta,
NPR,
19 May 2025
Verb
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During testimony on May 22, Mescudi recalled Combs allegedly breaking into his house in December 2011 after the record executive found out about the relationship.—
Taijuan Moorman,
USA Today,
23 May 2025
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Beren Cross found out about a £50,000 deal put together by the club that has protected the pitch for the foreseeable future, and potentially for centuries.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
Verb
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The founding team actively reads customer reviews, emails, and support requests to guide product development.—
Nia Bowers,
USA Today,
20 May 2025
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After some patter from the hype man, Greg Gutfeld came out and read MAGA-dad jokes off a teleprompter, and teed up his four guests: a comedian named Michael Loftus, the anarchist troll Michael Malice, the former MTV v.j. Kennedy, and Cobb, who wore a Chicago Blackhawks hockey jersey.—
Nick Paumgarten,
New Yorker,
19 May 2025
Verb
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Workshop attendees will learn about free Arkansas resources, digital health clinics, a free 24/7 brain and spine call center, brain injury support groups and more.—
Deb Harvell,
Arkansas Online,
25 May 2025
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Captain America: Brave New World (2025): 42 days Snow White (2025): 53 days Mufasa: The Lion King (2024): 60 days Moana 2 (2024): 62 days Stay tuned to learn exactly when Lilo & Stitch will be released on streaming.—
Monica Mercuri,
Forbes.com,
24 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Swot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swot. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.
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