Meanings
plural dweebs
- USdatedderogatorygeneralslangA boring, studious, or socially inept person.First known use 1968
I may be dumb, but I'm not a dweeb.
1994, Dexter Holland, “Self Esteem”, in Smash, performed by The Offspring2 more examples
There never is a Keanu but a dweeb looking at me.
1996, Richard Stannard, Matt Rowe, “If U Can't Dance”, in Spice, performed by Spice GirlsNo way, man, the biggest dweeb of them all with . . . Marilyn!
2005 June 13, Edmund White, “My Women”, in The New YorkerSynonyms: dork, flabbergast, flabagast, flabaghast, gink, nerd, Nigel, nosebleed
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA boring, studious, or socially inept person.
More synonyms by meaning
nounan insignificant student who is ridiculed as being affected or boringly studious
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From 1968 US college slang, probably related to feeb. The 1980s backronym Dim-Witted Eastern-Educated Boor derives from apparent social and attitudinal differences between West Coast and East Coast US, and describes a stereotypical Ivy League graduate from Harvard, Yale, etc.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with dweeb
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
dweeb. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dweeb
“dweeb.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dweeb. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dweeb,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dweeb.
Source: dweeb on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.