wonk
a student who spends much time studying and has little or no social life; grind.
a stupid, boring, or unattractive person.
a person who studies a subject or issue in an excessively assiduous and thorough manner: They’re searching for a policy wonk to lead the economic institute’s think tank.
Origin of wonk
1Other words from wonk
- wonk·ish, adjective
Words Nearby wonk
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use wonk in a sentence
Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer is coming off some good weeks of press coverage in which reporters trumpeted his plan for homelessness uncritically and presented him as a low-key policy wonk.
Sacramento Report: Fee Caps Like San Diego’s Are Doordash’s New Target | Sara Libby | July 23, 2021 | Voice of San DiegoA few tax wonks predicted that workers who were most likely to struggle financially in old age wouldn’t open the accounts because they couldn’t afford to save.
Lord of the Roths: How Tech Mogul Peter Thiel Turned a Retirement Account for the Middle Class Into a $5 Billion Tax-Free Piggy Bank | by Justin Elliott, Patricia Callahan and James Bandler | June 24, 2021 | ProPublicaThink tanks and nonprofits have published research, and policy wonks have discussed it at conferences.
The Climate Real Estate Bubble: Is the U.S. on the Verge of Another Financial Crisis? | Graphics by Emily Barone | April 19, 2021 | TimeKnown as a “health care wonk,” Becerra was an original co-sponsor of the Affordable Care Act.
Xavier Becerra is the victim of the right’s distortion of Catholicism | Duncan Hosie | March 19, 2021 | Washington PostPolicy wonks can talk about history and cite all the studies they want, but for some people, this is not remotely theoretical.
Congress Is Considering 2 Plans to Get More Money to Parents. Here's How Each Would Work | Belinda Luscombe | February 12, 2021 | Time
But if the leader fails to gain acceptance, then the budget details are nothing more than wonk-trivia.
He hired a disaffected ex-Democratic wonk as his top social-policy guy.
He saw a problem, and—as a self-proclaimed “wonk”—immediately moved to solve it.
What Paul Ryan Gets Wrong About ‘Inner-City’ Poverty | Jamelle Bouie | March 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhen did knowing how the federal government works, how the budget works, become impressive for a policy wonk?
But before long, Morgan was ready to get off the wonk and back to the Oval Office.
Piers Morgan Pesters Clintons About 2016 Plans At CGI | Nina Strochlic | September 25, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe notes are moderately high-pitched and resemble "wonk-wonk-wonk."
Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Smilisca | William E. DuellmanIt was called the Wank (pronounced wonk) and was an Armenian monastery, half farm, half stronghold.
A Prisoner in Turkey | John Still
British Dictionary definitions for wonk
/ (wɒŋk) /
informal a person who is obsessively interested in a specified subject: a foreign policy wonk
Origin of wonk
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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