as in dwarf
a person of no importance or influence
in high school he was just a little twerp, and now he's a big Internet entrepreneur
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Recent Examples of twerp
Most of the movie is a vaguely comical swipe at Napoleon in domestic life—an awkward lover, a jealous husband, an inveterate complainer, and in sum an annoying twerp.
—
Kyle Smith, WSJ, 21 Nov. 2023
Kind of a little twerp, now and again.
—Ashley Fetters Maloy, Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2022
What a little twerp!
—Tolly Wright, Vulture, 2 June 2021
His Abigail is a perfect twerp, the peevish flipside to Pitt's Most Interesting Man in the World shtick.
—Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 18 Mar. 2022
When Briggs leaves Lulu in a (cool, safe) car at night, an animal-rights twerp seeks to break a window with a rock to let in some air, until Briggs advises him why this would be a bad idea.
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 18 Feb. 2022
That’s the mystery and the magnetism of what the actor’s doing, and without it this Henry would merely be a Lancastrian twerp.
—BostonGlobe.com, 24 Oct. 2019
To that end, its supporting characters are vivid: One step above Travis in the FAM hierarchy is Cody (Théodore Pellerin), a type-A twerp with a masochistic streak.
—Judy Berman, Time, 20 Aug. 2019
The fear is that kids who habitually order Amazon's Alexa to read them a story or command Google's Assistant to tell them a joke are learning to communicate not as polite, considerate citizens, but as demanding little twerps.
—Robbie Gonzalez, WIRED, 11 May 2018
Kyle Smith, WSJ, 21 Nov. 2023
Kind of a little twerp, now and again.
—Ashley Fetters Maloy, Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2022
What a little twerp!
—Tolly Wright, Vulture, 2 June 2021
His Abigail is a perfect twerp, the peevish flipside to Pitt's Most Interesting Man in the World shtick.
—Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 18 Mar. 2022
When Briggs leaves Lulu in a (cool, safe) car at night, an animal-rights twerp seeks to break a window with a rock to let in some air, until Briggs advises him why this would be a bad idea.
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 18 Feb. 2022
That’s the mystery and the magnetism of what the actor’s doing, and without it this Henry would merely be a Lancastrian twerp.
—BostonGlobe.com, 24 Oct. 2019
To that end, its supporting characters are vivid: One step above Travis in the FAM hierarchy is Cody (Théodore Pellerin), a type-A twerp with a masochistic streak.
—Judy Berman, Time, 20 Aug. 2019
The fear is that kids who habitually order Amazon's Alexa to read them a story or command Google's Assistant to tell them a joke are learning to communicate not as polite, considerate citizens, but as demanding little twerps.
—Robbie Gonzalez, WIRED, 11 May 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for twerp
Noun
-
Tell me a little bit about the technical side of filming a dwarf and an elf together.—
Devan Coggan,
EW.com,
13 Oct. 2022
-
Other new characters include Disa, the first female dwarf ever shown in the Lord of the Rings series.—
Ethan Millman,
Rolling Stone,
22 July 2022
Noun
-
None of these nobodies is performing like Grimes just yet, and until someone does Grier better get active trying to find a handful of veteran cornerbacks whom this team can call on, and sign to patch up the weakest unit on the team.—
Omar Kelly,
Miami Herald,
30 May 2025
-
And maybe that’s a metaphor for the way a lot of middle-class nobodies feel.—
Abigail Lee,
Variety,
13 May 2025
Noun
-
An Igbo native, his reach has extended far beyond ethnic ciphers.—
Ime Ekpo,
Forbes.com,
11 July 2025
-
To the police detectives who visit his school, teen behavior is a cipher to be decoded, almost literally: their breakthrough arrives when the lead detective’s young son takes pity on his dad and tells him what all the emojis in Jamie’s Instagram replies mean.—
Molly Fischer,
New Yorker,
30 June 2025
Noun
-
Stay cool with clothing: Select lightweight and loose-fitting outfits for enhanced comfort.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
1 Aug. 2025
-
The bantamweight, lightweight and women’s flyweight PFL World Tournament Finals are on August 15 in Charlotte, North Carolina, while the middleweights, light heavyweights, and heavyweights compete on August 21 in Hollywood, Florida.—
Trent Reinsmith,
Forbes.com,
29 July 2025
Noun
-
For starters, try planting dill around your brassicas, basil beneath your nightshades, or low-growing Corsican mint or Roman chamomile around any plants that need insect pollination.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
22 July 2025
-
The insects' larvae burrow into ash trees and feed on the tree's inner bark, preventing nutrients and water to flow properly.—
Alessia Sandala,
Nashville Tennessean,
21 July 2025
Noun
-
The new telescope does, though, have a whippersnapper nipping at its heels.—
Sarah Scoles,
Scientific American,
28 May 2025
-
Now please don’t get the whippersnappers in the GTW offices wrong.—
Sean Keeler,
The Denver Post,
8 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Twerp.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/twerp. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
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