schlemiel
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of schlemiel
1890–95; < Yiddish shlemil < Hebrew shəlumīʾēl Shelumiel, a Biblical and Talmudic figure
Explanation
A schlemiel is a somewhat dopey, awkward person. You might angrily call your brother a schlemiel after he drops the cake you've spent all day making, stumbles, and sits on it. Nothing every goes quite right for a schlemiel — he's the guy who never seems to get any good luck, and who's less than brilliant and not particularly graceful. A schlemiel in a movie is an object of fun, perfect for laughing at. In real life, it's pretty hard to be a schlemiel. The word schlemiel means "bungler" in Yiddish, from a character called Peter Schlemihl in a classic German fable.
Vocabulary lists containing schlemiel
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He's a middle-aged shlemiel of an accountant�a surly, sulky Bob Newhart�with a restless young wife and a fatal case of paranoia.
From Time Magazine Archive
The label reads "Made in Czarist Russia," but the contents show Allen's familiar shlemiel ticket: the loser, surrounded by a world of hostile, if inanimate, objects.
From Time Magazine Archive
Yet another shlemiel, but this one is canonized by Malamud's compassionate talent.
From Time Magazine Archive
The lovable shlemiel of Sleeper and other banana-peel epics is playing love scenes without his usual co-star and onetime roommate Diane Keaton.
From Time Magazine Archive
“I’m a shlemiel or I’m a shlamozzle or whatever it is you people call them, I’ll bite—what did you just see?”
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
