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nerd

American  
[nurd] / nɜrd /
Rarely nurd

noun

  1. a single-minded person obsessed with a hobby or pursuit or with a particular topic.

    My 13-year-old son is a computer nerd.

    I joined a book club and discovered another Jane Austen nerd.

  2. a person considered to be socially awkward, boring, unstylish, etc.

verb (used without object)

  1. to spend inordinate amounts of time, attention, energy, enthusiasm, etc., on an activity or topic of special interest to oneself; geek.

    I enjoy samurai movies, nerding about samurai movies, and the occasional slice of cake.

    Don't cross the street while you're nerding on your phone—you're likely to get hit!

verb phrase

  1. nerd out to engage with excessive enthusiasm in a hobby or in discussion about a topic of special interest to oneself.

    Back in the day, I nerded out hardcore over baseball cards.

    We sat there for half an hour while she nerded out on the metaphysical poets.

  2. nerd up to alter or be altered in a way that shows excessive enthusiasm for a special interest.

    He appears in that film nerded up as a philosophy genius.

    I'm going to nerd up my office with these five Charlie Chaplin posters.

    Wow, this simple conversation about cheese sure nerded up fast!

idioms

  1. nerd it up, to indulge oneself without restraint in a hobby, game, etc., in which one has an obsessive interest.

    Looking forward to nerding it up with everybody on Comic Trading Day at the store!
nerd British  
/ nɜːd /

noun

  1. a boring or unpopular person, esp one obsessed with something specified

    a computer nerd

  2. a stupid and feeble person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • nerdish adjective
  • nerdy adjective

Etymology

Origin of nerd

An Americanism first recorded in 1950–55; obscurely derived expressive formation

Compare meaning

How does nerd compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But at school, Rachel kept it going, insisting it was someone who’d given her creep vibes—or real nerd vibes.

From Literature

I could tell immediately that he nerds out about songwriting like I do.

From Los Angeles Times

I guess I was popular in high school, but I also had friends in all groups—nerds, goths and kids in the band.

From The Wall Street Journal

Tan is far from the only person turning to Reddit, which launched in 2005 and was once viewed as a place for nerds.

From BBC

I’m a slow, biased bike nerd, but I agree.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.