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wonk

noun

Etymology

American English student slang 1954; perhaps navy slang before that. "Expert" sense popularized in the Clinton administration, 1993. Origin uncertain, possibly from wonky (“shaky, unreliable”) or wank, wanker or simply expressive.

  1. derived from student slang 1954; perhaps navy slang before that

Definitions

  1. An overly studious person, particularly a student.

    • Previously, e-reading had been the domain of early adopters and new technology wonks.

  2. A policy wonk or other intellectual expert.

  3. To cram for exams.

    • he is renowned in the dorm for his ability to “wonk” (Know spelled backward), or cram, for exams.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for wonk. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA