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also shlemiel
as in loser
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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
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
Noun
-
Semifinalists earn 750,000 euros and first round losers get 87,000 euros.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 Apr. 2026
-
With the win, the Hornets advance to take on the loser of Wednesday’s play-in tournament matchup between the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
15 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Maybe the Trumps are right and my family boasts a lot of chumps, sending six men off to World War II alone.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
16 Apr. 2026
-
Miller has always taken the American people for brainless, heartless chumps lost in a swamp of nostalgia who’ll believe whatever Trumpworld tells them to.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Jan. 2026
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 then find a slippery road, or just drive like an oaf.—
Jonathan M. Gitlin,
ArsTechnica,
16 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Don’t be a palooka, start Nacua.—
Bill Reinhard,
New York Daily News,
12 Dec. 2024
-
One year after the Academy bafflingly ignored his work in Sideways, Giamatti finally scored his first Oscar nomination for his purely entertaining performance as boxing manager Joe Gould in Ron Howard’s proudly old-fashioned Depression-era palooka drama.—
A.A. Dowd,
Vulture,
10 Mar. 2024
Noun
-
There’s a maddening human truth tucked into the fact that everyone — from Lebedev’s forceful, hopeful young daughter Sasha (Maya Shoham) to the lout Borkin, whom Labbadia embodies irresistibly as a kind of Bronx-y hustler — is drawn to this man in free fall.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
23 Mar. 2026
-
Less impactful but notable, Riley added Jimmy Butler to join the Bam Adebayo/Tyler Herro core in 2020, though Butler fell short of delivering a championship before eventually pouting his way lout of town and being traded one year ago, last Feb. 6.—
Greg Cote
January 30,
Miami Herald,
30 Jan. 2026
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
Noun
-
The actor has shown a long-running interest in food, from sharing a muffin recipe featuring instant espresso as a surprising secret ingredient to appearances related to food and drinks, including ads for Raisin Bran, a turkey fryer safety PSA and his own wine-tasting series, Tasting Table reported.—
Deirdre Bardolf,
FOXNews.com,
14 Apr. 2026
-
Seedo’s turkey sandweesh has become a surprising bestseller — or at least a surprise to me.—
Louisa Kung Liu Chu,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Apr. 2026
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
Cite this Entry
“Schlemiel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/schlemiel. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.
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