kitsch

[kich]

noun

1. something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste.

kitsch

/ kɪtʃ /

noun

1. 1. tawdry, vulgarized, or pretentious art, literature, etc, usually with popular or sentimental appeal

   2. ( as modifier )

      a kitsch plaster bust of Beethoven

kitsch

1. Works of art and other objects (such as furniture) that are meant to look costly but actually are in poor taste.

Kitsch in literature and music is associated with sentimentalism as well as bad taste.

Other Word Forms

• kitschy adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of kitsch¹

First recorded in 1925–30; from German, derivative of kitschen “to throw together (a work of art)”

Word History and Origins

Origin of kitsch¹

C20: from German

Example Sentences

Part of the reason those recipes look so alien to us now is that, in postwar America, food science was less kitsch than it was cutting-edge.

From Salon

I was never a fan of Cracker Barrel’s food, Stuckey’s candies or the kitsch you had to wade through if you had the misfortune of spending time at either establishment.

From Salon

At the more exalted level of national politics, cultural stagnation is a dive into tackiness and kitsch.

From Salon

The North Hollywood house, which songwriter Allee Willis first purchased in 1980 and turned into a living ode to all things kitsch, is awash in trinkets and tchotchkes.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s so ornate, so frothy with kitsch, you have to smile.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• sleazy 
• tacky 
• vulgar