schlemiel

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
“
Liberalism, which purports to mitigate conflict, was viewed as a kind of schlemiel faith in the conscience of the world.

View all »
Examples (23)

  • Everyone knew someone like him: a sad-eyed schlemiel with a weird neck rash who was having a crisis of confidence.
  • This led to a discussion by the two lobsters of the mysteries of existence, of religion, and how capricious the universe was, when someone like Sol Drazin, a schlemiel they knew from the catering business, came back after a fatal stroke as a stud horse impregnating cute little thoroughbred fillies for high fees. —  The New Yorker
  • Andy shall henceforth be known as "Stuck-Up Wanker," I'm simply "Schmuck," (maschugana and schlemiel didn't fit) and since "pancake" is apparently an extremely derogatory insult in Holland, the Dutch word for pancake (pahnenkoek) shall be Nadine's new nickname. —  TravelPod.com Recent Updates
  • Liberalism, which purports to mitigate conflict, was viewed as a kind of schlemiel faith in the conscience of the world. —  MuzzleWatch
  • They must remember that Jesus was one of us. cut ties with this papal schlemiel, but this Benedict must understand that what happened in Goyza can easily happen in the Vatican. —  Wake Up From Your Slumber - The Truth Will Set You Free
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 49 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Yiddish shlemíl, perhaps from Hebrew šəlūmî'ēl, my well-being is God, Shelumiel (a character in the Bible, Numbers 7:36) : šəlūmî, my well-being (šālôm, well-being; see šlm in Semitic roots + -î, my) + 'ēl, God; see אl in Semitic roots.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

We are still working on calculating this word's frequency.

Recently looked up

commissaris · topsy-turvy · blue-chip · uprise · total

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

britney · bunda · settii · aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile · an sionnach i gcraiceann na caorach