as in cheese
something that is of low quality but that many people find amusing and enjoyable
The restaurant is decorated with 1950s furniture and kitsch from old TV shows.
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as in kitschy
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Recent Examples of kitsch
Literary Hub, 3 Apr. 2026
Qajar-dynasty kitsch—kings with walrus mustaches and embellished turbans, women with unibrows in tunics—became ubiquitous as a motif in contemporary art, on the walls of cafés, on teapots.
—Azadeh Moaveni, New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2026
Critically blasted but massively popular with audiences, this dream project is the height of kitsch, somehow made palatable by Richard’s characteristic earnestness.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2026
One of the most remarkable things about EPiC, however, is that despite the outlandishness of the costumes, the movie never feels kitsch or frozen in time.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for kitsch
Noun
Flea markets sold Soviet kitsch, while imperial antiques disappeared from private collections along with their owners.
—Literary Hub, 3 Apr. 2026
Qajar-dynasty kitsch—kings with walrus mustaches and embellished turbans, women with unibrows in tunics—became ubiquitous as a motif in contemporary art, on the walls of cafés, on teapots.
—Azadeh Moaveni, New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2026
Critically blasted but massively popular with audiences, this dream project is the height of kitsch, somehow made palatable by Richard’s characteristic earnestness.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2026
One of the most remarkable things about EPiC, however, is that despite the outlandishness of the costumes, the movie never feels kitsch or frozen in time.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for kitsch
Recent Examples of Synonyms for kitsch
Noun
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In the hot box next to the cashier, where food needs to be kept at or above 135 degrees to prevent bacteria growth, cheese tequeños, cheese and jalapeño tequeños, guava and cheese pastelitos, cheese pastelitos and cheese cachitos measured from 114 to 125 degrees.—
David J. Neal,
Miami Herald,
20 Apr. 2026
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There are build-your-own-bowl restaurants that encourage customers to make mountains out of carne asada and shredded cheese.—
Jenn Harris,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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For decades, the Georgia Guidestones were nothing more than kitschy roadside Americana – a curiosity people visited for fun, intrigue, and the occasional pagan ritual.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
21 Apr. 2026
-
No one even attempts the accent, and a few kitschy phrases are not going to cut it, not even from supporting stars like Henry Winkler and Lena Headey.—
Katie Walsh,
Twin Cities,
18 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Some of these are arranged into more staid compositions of geometric bands of color, while others bend and bulge into shapes evoking the baroque ruination of junk-yard findings.—
Vince Aletti,
New Yorker,
17 Apr. 2026
-
Dump the junk; donate the rest to the Goodwill or other donation centers.—
Terri Daxon,
Oc Register,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Not because of the roving packs of teenagers or even the garish displays of overconsumption, but because mall architecture was high art.—
AJ Willingham,
AJC.com,
17 Apr. 2026
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Out front was a parked Jeep that had been decorated in garish camouflage and emblazoned with the grinning face of a man who went by Lawyer Don.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Mulhouse Public Prosecutor Nicolas Heitz speaks to the press after a boy was discovered naked and malnourished on a pile of rubbish in a van where he had been kept locked up, in Hagenbach, eastern France, on April 10, 2026.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
11 Apr. 2026
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Stony rubbish, dead trees, the odd corpse in the garden—nothing that couldn’t be absorbed back into the earth.—
Caroline Fraser,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Both these cousins grow to a comparable size and shape about 15 to 20 feet tall and wide, and combine gaudy spring flowers with scarlet and crimson fall foliage.—
Steve Bender,
Southern Living,
15 Apr. 2026
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The neighbors of the Highland Park mansion once owned by MJ now have flexed their muscle not once but twice at proposals to repurpose the gaudy property for something other than a one-family occupier living therein.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Colorado emergency responders closed the westbound lanes of Interstate 76 on Friday morning after a fatal crash the Colorado State Patrol said involved a trash truck and a pedestrian.—
Jesse Sarles,
CBS News,
24 Apr. 2026
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Another 10 gathered on plastic trash and one was on an unused steam table.—
David J. Neal,
Miami Herald,
24 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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For those who know the play well, some of Mantello’s choices are most striking, especially the horror here of the famous hotel-room scene with a tawdry lover (brutally played by Katherine Romans), an act born of loneliness that destroys a father’s relationship with his son forever.—
Chris Jones,
New York Daily News,
10 Apr. 2026
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Illinois and Chicago are high-tax, big-promise blue strongholds with long, tawdry histories of waste, fraud, patronage, insider deals and blatant corruption.—
Andy Shaw,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Kitsch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kitsch. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
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