shtetl
Americannoun
noun
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.
When he finally relents, she discovers that the invading Nazi army has razed her shtetl and that its inhabitants, including her parents, are gone.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 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
In Grigori’s perfect world, there would be no shtetl, only the depiction of one.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
