variants or schlocky also shlock or shlocky
Definition of schlocknext

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 schlock The film is as over-the-top and schlocky as a lucha libre match and serves as a time capsule for 1970s style. — Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026 Besson oversees another schlocky genre flick with a few bravura fight scenes but not much else going for it. — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026 And talk about schlock, surely there was something if not exactly schlocky then definitely sensationalist about Marcia’s way of eviscerating an artist or an event. — Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026 Bosses recently told Deadline that microdrama has moved well beyond cheap, schlocky imitations of traditional TV and film. — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 23 July 2026 Well, people have always written schlocky or formulaic books. — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 10 June 2026 Yet despite their cultural staying power, power ballads have historically received little scholarly attention, in part because they are often dismissed as schlocky and banal. — Angelica Frey, JSTOR Daily, 22 May 2026 Quentin Tarantino’s outrageous revisionist Western is wildly over-the-top, combining the director’s penchant for gratuitous violence and sparkling dialogue with a story that’s pleasingly labyrinthine but nothing if not schlocky. — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Apr. 2026 But that shift is still recent, and decades of cultural baggage — from sexist slasher stereotypes to schlocky late-night programming — continue to shape perception. — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 17 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for schlock
Adjective
  • Amazon’s two cheaper models also come in child-friendly versions tailored to whether your child is between three and five, or six and 12.
    — James Peckham, PC Magazine, 8 Oct. 2026
  • The audience is full of young people — the revival has continued the original production’s commitment to offering cheap day-of tickets — many of whom have strong connections to the material.
    — Ellise Shafer, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • Platforms prefill a name, email and phone number so a user can submit in one tap without leaving the feed, which is wonderful for a consumer promotion and terrible for a six-figure investment.
    — Jonathan Durante, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Saddled with terrible reviews and negative word-of-mouth, Tom Cruise‘s absurdist dark comedy has cratered at the box office with $8 million in North America and $20 million globally in its first weekend of release.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 5 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • Such diagnoses can carry an extraordinarily poor neonatal prognosis.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Road accidents are frequent in Africa’s most populous country, in part due to poor road conditions and lax enforcement of traffic laws.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • After years of looking inferior to its Western brethren, the NBA’s Eastern Conference is enjoying a renaissance, galvanized by a steady influx of talent and the relocation of star players to new teams.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Brandon put up big numbers against inferior opponents, but struggled against Texas and Auburn, and Heupel clearly doesn’t see this as a development year for his team.
    — Seth Emerson, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • Sometimes your potatoes will be not be super clean with little sprouts and little rotten bits that need to be cut off.
    — Andy Baraghani, Bon Appetit Magazine, 6 Oct. 2026
  • He was filled with a sudden sense of hopelessness, a rotten sadness.
    — Rachel Heng, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • But then came the nightmare of Game 3, one of the Sox’s worst performances in weeks.
    — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Specifically, people with worse fever tended to have more of a protein called flagellin in their systems than those with little to no fever.
    — Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 9 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Schlock.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/schlock. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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