NERDS Synonyms: 52 Similar and Opposite Words

nerds

noun

plural of nerd

as in geeks

a person slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits was such a nerd in college that she spent Saturday nights at the library

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as in intellectuals

a person with strong intellectual interests an unlikely romance between a nerd and a campus beauty queen

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of nerds Harbach is a gifted observer of undergraduates, their pathos and their comedy, but his Westish is a gentle and perhaps too-good-natured institution, where even the jocks are nerds. — B. D. McClay, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026 Some Latinas are nerds, and some Latinas are quirky, and some of them are goofy and some of them are clumsy. — Johanna Ferreira, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026 There’s also the comic book [heads], the nerds, the chess players. — John Kennedy, VIBE.com, 16 Oct. 2026 On Monday morning, the world's econ nerds tuned in to an announcement from Sweden to learn who won this year's Nobel Prize in economics. — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 13 Oct. 2026 The problem is when the self-importance of festival political activism crosses wires with these horror nerds. — Joseph Kahn, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2026 Today’s Theme This crossword is a tribute to Scrabble, another beloved pastime of word nerds. — New York Times, 24 Sep. 2026 The kind of weird minutiae that only nerds pull out of old archives. — Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026 Speaking of giant nerds, our math tells us that the average cost for a unit sold in a broadcast entertainment program during the 2016-17 upfront worked out to around $170,000 a pop once inflation was factored into the calculus. — Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 9 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for nerds

Noun

For movie geeks everywhere, this has been the question since Kubrick’s death in 1999.

— Geoff Edgers, Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2026
In recent weeks, a number of states have been winning multibillion-dollar settlements from the computer geeks.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of geeks

Noun

Yet other scholars, activists and intellectuals have their takes, too, on the Harlem Renaissance’s many political movements and bids for Black self-determination.

— Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
These new lines of thought, which have gained prominence among influential defense intellectuals and policy experts close to the Kremlin over the past year do not need to be endorsed in formal security doctrine to matter.

— Dmitry Adamsky, Foreign Affairs, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of intellectuals

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nerdish

nerds

nerdy

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“Nerds.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nerds. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of nerds

noun

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