dweeb

From 1968 US college slang, probably related to feeb.^[1]

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.

• IPA^(key): /dwiːb/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːb

dweeb (plural dweebs)

1. (US, dated, originally university slang, now general slang, derogatory) A boring, studious, or socially inept person. [from 1968]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dork

   • 1994, Dexter Holland, “Self Esteem”, in Smash, performed by The Offspring:

     I may be dumb, but I'm not a dweeb.

   • 1996, Richard Stannard, Matt Rowe, “If U Can't Dance”, in Spice, performed by Spice Girls:

     There never is a Keanu but a dweeb looking at me.

   • 2005 June 13, Edmund White, “My Women”, in The New Yorker‎^[1]:

     No way, man, the biggest dweeb of them all with . . . Marilyn!

Although dweeb frequently involves some more sense of boring studiousness than dork, dweeb does not carry the connotations of actual intelligence or mastery of an (unimportant) subfield frequently intended by the similar nerd and geek.

• Nigel (Australia); see also Thesaurus:dork

• bedew, bewed