shtetl
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of shtetl
Yiddish, little town
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.
But a time jump, moving from a shtetl during World War I to 1930s Warsaw, pushes the film into more unexpected territory, as it encompasses issues of immigration, adoption and assimilation.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 14, 2026
It’s 1905, and Anatevka isn’t the shtetl that it once was.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 15, 2025
Not long after Jewish author Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" had launched second-wave feminism, Harnick introduced the shtetl of Anatevka and its quaint ways through a song about unequal gender roles.
From Salon • Jul. 8, 2023
When Mr. Jaffee was 6, his mother threw their domestic life into turmoil by taking him and his three younger brothers back to her shtetl in Lithuania.
From New York Times • Apr. 10, 2023
Caught in Gitl’s embrace, Hannah suddenly remembered the little house in the shtetl and the big, embracing arms of Shmuel.
From "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen
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.
