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
  • The quarterfinal winners will secure automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup, while the losers will face off in a final set of matches to determine which two teams advance to FIFA’s intercontinental playoff next year.
    — Tamerra Griffin, New York Times, 6 Aug. 2026
  • That point was on Monday, with the former first lady, secretary of state, senator and 2016 presidential election loser showing up to watch the New York Liberty take on the Seattle Storm.
    — Matt Reigle OutKick, FOXNews.com, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of loser
Noun
  • 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
  • This new three-part docuseries interviews Belfort's former wife, his co-conspirators, and his victims to dive deep into how his boiler room operation pumped, dumped, and ripped off chumps.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 27 June 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 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
  • The league’s most popular player has become its biggest lout.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 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
  • This Alabama icon proves that turkey isn’t just for Thanksgiving.
    — Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 2 Aug. 2026
  • The million-dollar question concerned the Thanksgiving tradition of the president pardoning two turkeys.
    — Hilary Lewis, HollywoodReporter, 30 July 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 8 Aug. 2026.

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