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Evidence of ersatz in English dates to the middle of the 19th century, but the word didn’t come into prominence until World War I. Borrowed from German, where Ersatz is a noun meaning "substitute," the word was frequently applied as an adjective to modify terms like coffee (made from acorns) and flour (made from potatoes)—ersatz products necessitated by the privations of war. By the time World War II came around, bringing with it a resurgence of ersatz products, ersatz was wholly entrenched in the language. Today, ersatz describes any substitute or imitation, especially when it’s inferior to the original.
Examples of ersatz in a Sentence
Robin Wright, New Yorker, 7 June 2025
The Last of Us season 2 ends with a bloodthirsty Ellie coming face-to-face with Abby, the woman who killed her ersatz father figure.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 4 June 2025
Among the traces of the maritime city here today, the ersatz takes many forms.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 21 May 2025
This due in no small part to Musk’s ersatz insertion into federal politics via the Trump administration’s jobs and services slashing Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
—Jim Gorzelany, Forbes.com, 14 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for ersatz
Cite this Entry
“Ersatz.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ersatz. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
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