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:
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
Sherard Cowper Coles, the principal private secretary to Robin Cook, said his charge studied his papers like "the school swot" on the plane out to European council meetings.
From BBC ● May 14, 2013
My diagnostic eye had foreseen a birthday and, as a matter of fact, I was getting rather funky and wishing I had Hermann's 'Midwifery' to swot up.
From Captivity by Eyles, M. Leonora
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
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
"That's the worst of clever little swots," said McTurk, addressing the gas.
From Stalky & Co. by Kipling, Rudyard
This was a God-send to the "gentlemen cadets," wishing to achieve a notoriety as wits and slangsters; and mathematics generally ever after became swot, and mathematicians swots.
From Notes and Queries, Number 23, April 6, 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
That adjustment came after a defeat by Arsenal in September, and the Belgian underlined its wisdom by scoring one of the goals of the season when Chelsea swotted aside the same opponents in February.
From The Guardian ● May 22, 2017
“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
Lord, how we worked and swotted sore To be fit when the day should come!
From The Guards Came Through and Other Poems by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
The ginger tom officially belongs to the deputy librarian at the Marshall Library of Economics, and "tea with Jasper" events have proved popular with those wanting a break from swotting.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2018
Zheng assumed she had been busy swotting up for her exam and thought little of it.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 24, 2016
There, you'll be swotting virtual flies, creating hairstyles, painting pictures and lots of other daft challenges.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 17, 2010
While I was swotting up, I had encountered the intriguing suggestion that Yazidis are forbidden to eat lettuce.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2010
He has been moping in his hut for the past week," said Hamilton thoughtfully, "but I was hoping that it meant that he was swotting for his exam.
From The Keepers of the King's Peace by Wallace, Edgar
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.
