In this paper, a new grey wolf optimizer (GWO) variant based on a novel weighted distance (WD) called the GW O-WD algorith m is presented to solve global optimization problems. First, a modified position-updating equation formu lated using the proposed strategy is emp loyed to obtain additional informat ion and improved global solutions. Then, several of the worst indiv iduals are eliminated and repositioned using an elimination and repositioning strategy to improve the capability of the algorithm and avoid falling into local optima. The performance of the algorith m is verified by utilizing 23 widely used benchmark test functions, the IEEE CEC2014 test suite and three well-known engineering design problems. The simulat ion results of the proposed algorith m are co mpared with those of the standard GW O algorithm, three GW O variants and several existing methods, and the proposed algorithm is revealed to be very competitive and, in many cases, superior.