swot
verb (used with object)
swat.
swot
1 American
[swot]
/ swɒt /
verb (used with object)
swotted,
swotting
swot
2
American
[swot]
/ swɒt /
verb (used without object)
swotted,
swotting
noun
swots
plural
-
a student who studies assiduously, especially to the exclusion of other activities or interests; grind.
-
hard study or hard work; concentrated effort.
swot
1
British
/ swɒt /
verb
noun
-
Also called: swotter. a person who works or studies hard
-
hard work or grind
SWOT
2
British
abbreviation
swot
3
British
/ swɒt /
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of swot
First recorded in 1840–50; dialectal variant of sweat
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It turns out that she is currently in the middle of re-reading Rivals to swot up ahead of more interviews about the show.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2024
She calls herself a swot, which translates roughly to an overenthusiastic student.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2019
For all his brains and later academic renown, he was no swot: he started cramming five days before finals, from an undemanding textbook nicknamed “Economics for the Half-witted Child”.
From Economist ● Aug. 13, 2015
So if you want to get the scoop on friends and colleagues, swot up on this list…
From Forbes ● Jun. 5, 2015
Indeed, he was only saved from being considered a swot, to use the vernacular, by the fact that from childhood's earliest hour he had been in the habit of keeping wicket like an angel.
From A Prefect's Uncle by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
However, she added, a long-awaited new satellite known to researchers as SWOT, is poised to make these kinds of ocean phenomena vastly easier to observe.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2024
The rocket's payload, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite, or SWOT, incorporates advanced microwave radar technology to collect high-definition measurements of oceans, lakes, reservoirs and rivers over 90% of the globe.
From Reuters ● Dec. 16, 2022
The data gathered by SWOT, he said, will “heavily advance our understanding of not just climate change, but also climate variability, and how that affects droughts and things like monsoons.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2022
And besides, some critics add, there is little useful to learn from the results, since it is parents alone that encourage swots.
From Economist ● Dec. 6, 2016
Two current swots offer little fun, less profit.
From Time Magazine Archive
"That's the worst of clever little swots," said McTurk, addressing the gas.
From Stalky & Co. by Kipling, Rudyard
I have often heard it said:—"I never could do swot well, Sir;" and "these dull fellows, the swots, can talk of nothing but triangles and equations."
From Notes and Queries, Number 23, April 6, 1850 by Various
Swot.—I have often heard military men talk of swot, meaning thereby mathematics; and persons eminent in that science are termed "good swots."
From Notes and Queries, Number 22, March 30, 1850 by Various
Wearing a grey hoodie sweatshirt with 'Fear' written upside down Malinin symbolically swotted away comments which represented the negative impact of social media.
From Barron's ● Feb. 22, 2026
“I’m a Liberal Democrat,” replies Mr Scragg—which Mr Johnson, who was supposed to have swotted up on this winnable Lib Dem marginal on the train, should have known.
From Economist ● Apr. 23, 2015
For my ancient language I swotted up Latin in six weeks and squeaked through the test, which was written-only.
From Time ● Nov. 28, 2012
Could it be that he has simply swotted his way to sophistication in a bid to please his wife?
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2011
"As a matter of fact, I got the British Consul to send me a local directory and swotted it."
From The Book of All-Power by Wallace, Edgar
Eventually he puts an end to my annoying questions by swotting them with: "I can guarantee that I know."
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2014
Photograph: Gary Calton The monks pace serenely in their long black habits, to a background of chanted psalms and obedient students from Ampleforth College swotting for exams.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 19, 2012
She'd had two great years appearing in plays, and didn't want to spoil her memories with a year of swotting.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 11, 2010
While I was swotting up, I had encountered the intriguing suggestion that Yazidis are forbidden to eat lettuce.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2010
Mustn't the fellows at St. Wenford's be green with envy if they think of themselves swotting away in class while we're having the time of our lives in the backwoods?
From The Fiery Totem A Tale of Adventure in the Canadian North-West by Saxby, C. F. Argyll
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
