as in nerd
a person slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits
the candidate has an army of policy wonks ready to write for him a position paper on virtually any issue
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Recent Examples of wonk
This isn't a command-line interface just for hardcore wonks, either.
—
K. Thor Jensen,
PC Magazine,
13 Apr. 2026
Policy wonks and software engineers were turned away at the door of the conservative tech think tank Foundation for American Innovation’s reception on Monday evening, held at MAGA hot spot Butterworth’s.
—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
30 Mar. 2026
Policy wonks are often the main turnouts when the Federal Reserve seeks public comment on a new rule for banks.
—
Tom Schoenberg,
Bloomberg,
12 Mar. 2026
Rafters, ranchers, anglers, hydrologists, energy wonks, and government officials have coordinated in the past to keep water in the river.
—
Pete McBride,
Time,
27 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for wonk
K. Thor Jensen,
PC Magazine,
13 Apr. 2026
Policy wonks and software engineers were turned away at the door of the conservative tech think tank Foundation for American Innovation’s reception on Monday evening, held at MAGA hot spot Butterworth’s.
—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
30 Mar. 2026
Policy wonks are often the main turnouts when the Federal Reserve seeks public comment on a new rule for banks.
—
Tom Schoenberg,
Bloomberg,
12 Mar. 2026
Rafters, ranchers, anglers, hydrologists, energy wonks, and government officials have coordinated in the past to keep water in the river.
—
Pete McBride,
Time,
27 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for wonk
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wonk
Noun
-
In the film, the villain is not the Harvard nerds who initially shun Elle, but the ex-boyfriend who never saw her as anything more than a cardboard cutout of a girl with blonde hair and big boobs.
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Hunter Pence, a nerd at heart, spent money from his first paycheck to buy himself a gaming computer to play World of Warcraft.
Noun
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The weekend-afternoon sales events became a phenomenon, drawing crowds to marvel at his wide-ranging tastes — not just hardcore music geeks or bibliophiles, but appreciators of New York cultural lore.
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By now, however, most know him as the lovable, cello-playing geek Leonard Hofstadter who married the pretty blonde waitress.
Cite this Entry
“Wonk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wonk. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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