Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Sentimentality or vulgar, often pretentious bad taste, especially in the arts: "When money tries to buy beauty it tends to purchase a kind of courteous kitsch” ( William H. Gass).
- n. An example or examples of kitsch.
- adj. Of, being, or characterized by kitsch: "The kitsch kitchen ... has aqua-and-white gingham curtains and rubber duck-yellow walls painted in a fried-egg motif” ( Suzanne Cassidy).
Wiktionary
- n. Art, decorative objects and other forms of representation of questionable artistic or aesthetic value; a representation that is excessively sentimental, overdone, or vulgar.
- adj. Said especially of art and decor that is considered of questionable aesthetic value; excessively sentimental, overdone or vulgar.
WordNet 3.0
- n. excessively garish or sentimental art; usually considered in bad taste
Etymologies
- From German Kitsch, from dialectal kitschen ("to coat, to smear"), the word and concept were popularized in the 1930's by several critics who opposed it to avant garde art. (Wiktionary)
- German, probably of dialectal origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term kitsch was invented in pre-Hitler Czechoslovakia to describe artifacts created with great technical polish in which everyone was always ridiculously happy or sentimentally sad, but lacking any real emotion.”
“A James Dean type Kirk at sunset looking at the Enterprise - his future destiny - constructed in the desert … that's what I call kitsch!”
“I mean, there is a certain kitsch appeal to that, but not much.”
The Guardian: Elvis Costello: 'I've never liked the word maturity. It implies decay'
“The aesthetic that appreciates kitsch is partly ironic, involving a sort of archly detached amusement.”
“The world of kitsch is in a certain measure a heartless world, in which emotion is directed away from its proper target towards sugary stereotypes, permitting us to pay passing tribute to love and sorrow without the trouble of feeling them.”
“A desire for the experience of kitsch is a symptom of insecurity.”
“See the movie first please before making up your minds. jason B kitsch is the best part of friday night lights - and that is saying ALOT, because the show is phenominal. soooo, i was really hapy to hear ha had landed the role.”
“Triumph des Willens in translation or perhaps kitsch is just kitsch?”
“An unabashed and unapologetic pastel artist with an obsessive nature toned in kitsch and pith; Whitfield creates a personal mythology within an art historical context.”
“The kitsch is so thick you'll need a shovel -- cracked me up too hard to pass up.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kitsch’.
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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New words
new words or spelling issues
voluble, Metagrobolize, salubrious, calumny, fugacity, withdrawal, bourse, hypertrophy, leitmotif, argot, improvident, damask and 249 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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Tricky Words from German
Loanwords from German -- some established, some wet behind the ears -- that are difficult to spell, pronounce, or remember.
Torschlusspanik, Fräulein, weltanschauung, Weltschmerz, sprachgefühl, schadenfreude, katzenjammer, Radfahrer, gemütlich, zeitgeist, gesellschaft, gemeinschaft and 48 more...
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mots justes
No true synonyms, no other word will do.
dysphemism, nyehre, conflate, onomatopœic, galumph, zeitgeist, mercenary, theomeny, git, snarky, sass, smarmy and 46 more...
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LYNIJOE'S LIST
ANY NEW VERY USEFUL WORDS
urari, urao, vifda, pterins, awee, nipters, novena, novenae, ilex, obiit, oobit, dzo and 6 more...
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Junk
walrus, fascination, broadway, fickle, downturn, bridge, gargle, rotunda, mesh, fab, shortlife, strumming and 304 more...
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ktrey's wordlist
Words that I like.
Many may be lexicographically impotent due to a lack of citations and definition. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this eventually.velleity, dispositive, bloviate, bibulous, fungible, concupiscence, avuncular, carnaptious, thrawn, hypocoristic, diegesis, lagniappe and 928 more...
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Mnemosyne
Elicityscapes. Re-re-running; get, put.
"'Member dat?"
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."
-...linkage, peg, ceremony, memo, mnemosyne, mnemonic, memento, anchor, compose, draw, picture, imagine and 101 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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Interesting words
ineffable, effable, immutable, amorphous, parochial, salient, ascertain, circumspect, congenial, coeval, aversion, edification and 117 more...
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Adoration
Words I kind of love. For not particular reason, I just do.
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Spelling Bee list 2011
Abalone, ablution, absolution, aboriginally, abstemious, academician, acclamation, accommodation, acculturation, acetic, acetone, acme and 590 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for kitsch.
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