schlub

noun

ˈshləb 

variants or less commonly shlub

slang

: a stupid, worthless, or unattractive person

Synonyms

• airhead
• birdbrain
• blockhead
• bonehead
• bubblehead
• chowderhead
• chucklehead
• clodpoll
• clodpole
• clot [British]
• cluck
• clunk
• cretin
• cuddy [British dialect]
• cuddie
• deadhead
• dim bulb [slang]
• dimwit
• dip
• dodo
• dolt
• donkey
• doofus [slang]
• dope
• dork [slang]
• dullard
• dum-dum
• dumbbell
• dumbhead
• dummkopf
• dummy
• dunce
• dunderhead
• fathead
• gander
• golem
• goof
• goon
• half-wit
• hammerhead
• hardhead
• idiot
• ignoramus
• imbecile
• jackass
• know-nothing
• knucklehead
• lamebrain
• loggerhead [chiefly dialect]
• loon
• lump
• lunkhead
• meathead
• mome [archaic]
• moron
• mug [chiefly British]
• mutt
• natural
• nimrod [slang]
• nincompoop
• ninny
• ninnyhammer
• nit [chiefly British]
• nitwit
• noddy
• noodle
• numskull
• numbskull
• oaf
• pinhead
• prat [British]
• ratbag [chiefly Australian]
• saphead
• schnook [slang]
• simpleton
• stock
• stupe
• stupid
• thickhead
• turkey
• woodenhead
• yahoo
• yo-yo

Examples of schlub in a Sentence

you're a complete schlub—you should do great around here

Recent Examples on the Web

The actor neither softens nor romanticizes the countercultural cartoonist, a brilliant schlub whose artistry is inextricable from his Cleveland crab-apple worldview. —A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2024

Because of his talent for playing unglamorous slobs and schlubs, Giamatti is an easy actor to typecast. —A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2024

Samet, cynically defending his right to be an isolationist schlub, dismisses justice and community as naïve ideals. —Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2024

And carrying his inevitable thirtysomething disillusionment in a little schlub around the midriff, for sure. —Jessica Kiang, Variety, 9 Oct. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Yiddish zhlob, zhlub yokel, boor

First Known Use

1950, in the meaning defined above