dweeb
noun

- a boring, socially inept person

- a person who is physically and socially awkward and lacks confidence

Merriam-Webster, Cambridge Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

“Dweeb” was first heard on university campuses in the U.S. during the 1960s, referring to an overly diligent student who was socially inept. The word appears to have been first recorded around 1968, though some sources suggest it gained broader currency in the 1980s.

It is thought to derive from feeb—... based on an earlier slang term for a feeble- or weak-minded person. The beginning of the word may have been influenced by dwarf. So, dweeb likely combines:

"Feeb" - 1960s slang for a feeble-minded person (itself shortened from "feeble")

"Dwarf" - possibly influencing the "dw-" beginning

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DWEEB OR NERD?

While often used synonymously with "nerd," the two terms have developed different connotations. As nerd has gone mainstream, dweeb has come to denote a person that is not just nerdy but obnoxious to the point of contempt.

The distinction being that the awkward nerd draws sympathy; the annoying dweeb tends to provoke aversion.

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

anorak, automaton, bookworm, bore, brainiac, clod, dork, drone, dryball, DWEEB, egghead, geek, hermit, introvert, know-it-all, loner, misfit, mouse, mouth-breather, mute, nerd, oddball, pedant, plodder, poindexter, recluse, robot, schmoo, scholar, shut-in, slogger, stick-in-the-mud, striver, swot, wallflower, weirdo, wonk

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