schlemiel

noun

variants also shlemiel
Definition of schlemielnext
as in loser

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of schlemiel But Mauser refuses to be just another schlemiel working at a shoestore. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 1 Dec. 2025 This character may be Grade’s most magnificently grotesque creation, half demon, half schlemiel. — Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2025 He, the promising artist who died young, and I, the schlemiel who shovels out several hundred dollars a month to the storage company to house his artworks. — Will Stephenson, Harper's Magazine, 16 Aug. 2023 Sanderson seems to me like an opportunist with an appetite for attention, or at the very least a schlemiel, possibly a little vain. — Mireille Silcoff, New York Times, 2 May 2023 That poor schlemiel completely missed the point that Tim didn’t create the World Wide Web. — Gil Press, Forbes, 26 Mar. 2023 On Instagram, Gellar posted a screencap of her titular Slayer meeting Pascal’s Eddie, a hapless schlemiel who — like Buffy herself — is having trouble adjusting to college life at UC Sunnydale. — Vulture, 1 Mar. 2023 Superman was the ultimate hero, but Clark Kent was a schlemiel. — David Mamet, National Review, 3 Mar. 2022 Like Woyzeck himself, Heather Chrisler's Helen hovers between antihero and schlemiel. — Chicago Reader, 23 Aug. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for schlemiel
  1. loser
  2. chump
  3. oaf
  4. palooka
  5. lout
  6. schnook
  7. turkey
  8. dolt
Noun
  • Other than taxpayers, bodega owners stand to be some of the biggest losers if New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) realizes his dream of city-run grocery stores.
    — Editorial Board, Washington Post, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Amid the stresses of the Arctic, scientists are rethinking the idea that all life is a cutthroat competition with winners and losers.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of loser
Noun
  • The initial wave of the Patrick Mahomes Era featured the best quarterback in football on a relative chump-change rookie contract.
    — Sam McDowell August 29, Kansas City Star, 29 Aug. 2026
  • And to die would have been a sucker’s dream, but this is a skull game chump and the past cannot help no man.
    — Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 16 July 2026
Definition of chump
Noun
  • Star-studded, and then some, the upcoming show boasts giant of stage and screen John Lithgow as Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Golden Globe winner Janet McTeer as stern but wise Professor Minerva McGonagall, and comedy stalwart Nick Frost as gentle oaf Rubeus Hagrid.
    — Charlotte Reck, CNN Money, 26 Mar. 2026
  • And in the 1939 film, the Wizard is a kind of bumbling oaf who has stumbled onto the levers of power (almost literally).
    — Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 21 Nov. 2025
Definition of oaf
Noun
  • Sylvester Stallone's underdog tale about a struggling palooka given one shot at the heavyweight championship is a stirring sports movie with a level of charm and sweetness that dissipated in the rounds (and rounds) of sequels that followed.
    — Brian Lowry, CNN, 25 July 2019
  • All this real guts and glory in Philadelphia, yet one of the big tourist attractions is to run up the Art Museum steps the way a palooka named Rocky Balboa did on the silver screen.
    — Bill Livingston, cleveland.com, 1 Jan. 2018
Definition of palooka
Noun
  • That self-deprecating description opens Tony, writer-director Matt Johnson’s movie about the one crazy summer that changed a thoughtless young lout’s life; for good measure, the quote does double duty as the tagline on the film’s poster.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 5 Aug. 2026
  • That isn’t enough to humble our black-eyed lout, but spending a few months as a dishwasher at The Flagship in exchange for getting to sleep on the head chef’s hammock soon will.
    — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 29 July 2026
Definition of lout
Noun
  • In recent episodes, Gene has again taken to criminal scheming, employing the help of Jeff, the Omaha schnook who recognized the Cinnabon manager as the high-profile Saul Goodman.
    — oregonlive, oregonlive, 8 Aug. 2022
  • Sosa has hired someone, a poor schnook named Julian Martinez, to carry his boombox from city to city, clubhouse to clubhouse.
    — Teddy Greenstein, chicagotribune.com, 3 May 2018
Definition of schnook
Noun
  • According to Eater New York, the menu will also feature White’s brisket, ribs, turkey, potato salad, and coleslaw.
    — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Commissary receipts released by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida show the brothers also bought items including ramen noodle soup, turkey and Swiss combo sticks, Twix bars and Colombian coffee.
    — Jonny Hallam, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of turkey
Noun
  • So a lot of the counterintelligence training that's given to the troops, the officers, the defense contractors, a lot of it is kind of like, don't be naive, don't be a dolt, in short.
    — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 26 Feb. 2026
  • Most apartment buildings, basic or deluxe, barely qualify as architecture at all, not because they are designed by dolts but because developers (and the zoning code) demand a crushing efficiency.
    — Justin Davidson, Curbed, 28 Jan. 2026
Definition of dolt

Browse Nearby Words

schizophrenic
schlemiel
schlemiels
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Cite this Entry

“Schlemiel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/schlemiel. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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