ersatz
[er-zahts, -sahts, er-zahts, -sahts]
- serving as a substitute; synthetic; artificial: an ersatz coffee made from grain.
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- an artificial substance or article used to replace something natural or genuine; a substitute.
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Origin of ersatz
1870–75; < German Ersatz a substitute (derivative of ersetzen to replace)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
synthetic, phony, imitation, fake, sham, substitute, counterfeit, bogus, manufactured, pretended, simulated, spurious, copied, falseExamples from the Web for ersatz
Contemporary Examples
They were done to give a thin patina of ersatz legitimacy to what is otherwise flagrant sexual assault.
‘Rectal Feeding’ Has Nothing to Do with Nutrition, Everything to Do with TortureRussell Saunders
December 10, 2014
An elderly couple dances under flashing lights in an ersatz disco club.
Our hopes have gotten so cheesy that even the cheese is ersatz.
Plus, the song is catchy and rich with emotion which, although it may be ersatz, is pop perfection.
Unfortunately, the admissions system seems to be primarily geared towards fake sincerity and ersatz enrichment.
Historical Examples
This ersatz ranch-house was owned by two completely unlovelies.
VigorishGordon Randall Garrett
He slid into his chair and reached automatically for the ersatz grapefruit.
Tony and the BeetlesPhilip K. Dick
We had long been ridiculing the Germans for their ersatz ingenuity.
Paris VistasHelen Davenport Gibbons
It is the same difference as that between the ersatz and the authentic.
An AutobiographyIgor Stravinsky
The brass fittings were still in place, and there were no signs of ersatz towels, sheets, or even lace curtains.
To Kiel in the 'Hercules'Lewis R. Freeman
ersatz
- made in imitation of some natural or genuine product; artificial
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- an ersatz substance or article
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Word Origin
C20: German, from ersetzen to substitute
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for ersatz
adj.
1875, from German Ersatz "units of the army reserve," literally "compensation, replacement, substitute," from ersetzen "to replace," from Old High German irsezzen, from ir-, unaccented variant of ur- + setzen "to set" (see set (v.)). As a noun, from 1892.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper