wonk
Americannoun
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a student who spends much time studying and has little or no social life; grind.
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a stupid, boring, or unattractive person.
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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.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of wonk
An Americanism first recorded in 1960–65; of expressive origin; nautical slang wonk “a midshipman,” and Australian slang “white person; gay man” are probably independent formations
Explanation
If your brother would always rather stay home and study than go out with his friends, it would be accurate and a little bit mean to call him a wonk, or a nerd. The noun wonk is an informal way of referring to an overly studious person. Wonk is as derogatory as words like "dweeb" or "geek," and it implies someone who is boringly focused on work or school — like your physics major friend "the science wonk." Extreme fans of politics are sometimes called policy wonks. The word originated in the 1950s from American student slang, possibly from the word wonky, or "shaky and unreliable."
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.
Colleagues, including some Republicans, describe her as reasonable and a policy wonk who loves spreadsheets.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 4, 2026
Facts are great when you’re a lawyer in court or when you’re a wonk writing policy briefs and refining legislative language.
From Salon • Mar. 1, 2025
They also flesh out a portrait of Mr. Obama as a steady-as-she-goes, hyper-disciplined but not especially warm, policy wonk who scrolled the Brookings Institution website for ideas and had to overcome his own political mistakes.
From New York Times • Mar. 22, 2024
But in his writings — dozens of academic articles and books – Arévalo comes off much more as a policy wonk than a radical.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 22, 2023
If I said that, they’d think I was some kind of weather wonk.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
