1
as in nerd
a person slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits
we became friends when we discovered we were both dorks who had memorized the periodic table in high school
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2
as in idiot
a stupid person
he tried to be suave, but she still thought he was a dork
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dork
Quaid has gotten good at playing a fake-feminist dork: seemingly funny and well-meaning, his charm a thin veneer for a lot of seething, nerdy resentment (his work in Scream is another fine example).
—
David Sims, The Atlantic, 3 Feb. 2025
But talk to people who watch a wide swath of competitive reality shows — the real hard-core gamer dorks (complimentary) — and many will tell you that Big Brother is the best, most pure version of a social-strategy game.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2025
Monica invites to dinner an old friend from high school, Will, who was an even bigger dork than Ross back in the day.
—Brian Boone, Vulture, 15 Nov. 2024
The action-comedy follows popular girl Momo Ayase and isolated dork Ken Takakura, who bond over a mutual appreciation of the unexplained: One believes in ghosts, the other aliens.
—Kambole Campbell, Vulture, 30 Aug. 2024
See All Example Sentences for dork
David Sims, The Atlantic, 3 Feb. 2025
But talk to people who watch a wide swath of competitive reality shows — the real hard-core gamer dorks (complimentary) — and many will tell you that Big Brother is the best, most pure version of a social-strategy game.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2025
Monica invites to dinner an old friend from high school, Will, who was an even bigger dork than Ross back in the day.
—Brian Boone, Vulture, 15 Nov. 2024
The action-comedy follows popular girl Momo Ayase and isolated dork Ken Takakura, who bond over a mutual appreciation of the unexplained: One believes in ghosts, the other aliens.
—Kambole Campbell, Vulture, 30 Aug. 2024
See All Example Sentences for dork
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dork
Noun
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Desperate to return to his own era to help save his kin, Rex must team up with a gang of nerds, freaks and geeks to go back 65 million years in time.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
10 June 2025
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Even outside of the cosplay community, it’s long been considered taboo for Black people to lean into nerd culture.—
Taryn Finley,
Refinery29,
3 June 2025
Noun
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Owner David Rubenstein needs to get rid of Elias (maybe Cal Ripken Jr. would agree to the job) and get baseball people instead of computer geeks to run the team.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
22 May 2025
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Jon Cherry/Getty Images For years, crypto was viewed by many as a weird and fringe investment, hyped up by a bunch of math geeks and used widely by all kinds of unsavory characters, from drug dealers to hackers.—
Rafael Nam,
NPR,
19 May 2025
Noun
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So, the parallel thing that I’ve been frustrated by recently is not just calling Trump stupid, but calling Trump voters stupid.—
Drew Broussard
May 22,
Literary Hub,
22 May 2025
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Sometimes too stupid is actually smartski but sometimes is just stupid stupid.—
Caroline Downey,
National Review,
27 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dork.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dork. Accessed 19 Jun. 2025.
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