Synonyms of schlock

schlock

adjective

ˈshläk 

variants or schlocky also shlock or shlocky

as in cheap

of low quality

a tourist trap selling schlock souvenirs

Synonyms & Similar Words

• cheap
• terrible
• poor
• inferior
• rotten
• bad
• coarse
• low-rent
• worthless
• mediocre
• common
• trashy
• cheesy
• low-grade
• second-rate
• execrable
• shoddy
• junky
• cheapjack
• useless
• rubbishy
• wretched
• bum
• crappy
• sleazy
• counterfeit
• gimcrack
• miserable
• lousy
• cut-rate
• fake
• trumpery
• bargain-basement
• kitsch
• valueless
• kitschy
• tawdry
• gaudy
• garish
• meretricious
• lackluster
• el cheapo
• showy
• glitzy
• tacky
• indifferent
• second-class
• flashy
• swank
• ostentatious
• shabby
• sham
• splashy
• phony
• seedy
• brummagem
• ultracheap
• supercheap

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• good
• excellent
• superior
• fine
• first-class
• high-grade
• first-rate
• elegant
• tasteful
• top-notch
• handsome
• polished
• refined
• handcrafted

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of schlock

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

Deliberately schlocky and over-the-top, the production is a mere backdrop for the psychodrama happening off set between Elle and her costar Dominique (Havana Rose Liu), a girl her own age who’s also unfortunately her stepmother. — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 19 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

The film finally returns to Dracula’s castle, where four stone gargoyles come to life, and where there is bad swordplay, schlocky cannon fire, and a fortune-cookie theological lecture from Waltz’s Priest. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 7 Feb. 2026

In one of the most heartwarming sequences a flashback shows these young film buffs shooting one of their shlocky Big Foot-esque monster movies. — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 24 Dec. 2025