schmaltzy

English

Alternative forms

• shmaltzy

Etymology

schmaltz +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃmɒltsi/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Adjective

schmaltzy (comparative schmaltzier, superlative schmaltziest)

1. Overly sentimental, emotional, maudlin or bathetic.
   • 2018 June 26, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, “Jonathan Franzen Is Fine With All of It”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     During a series of interviews, Franzen expressed ambivalence about Oprah’s endorsement— […] that he had found a few of her choices in the past “schmaltzy” and “one-dimensional.”

   • 2023 January 20, Dan Bilefsky, quoting Gérard Araud, “American Expatriates in Paris Wish Emily Cooper Would Go Home”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     “In France, it has the reputation of being a typically American mixture of clichés and of schmaltz,” he wrote in an email. “Clichés about us don’t interest us, and the French are not very schmaltzy.”

Related terms

• schmaltz

Translations

Overly sentimental, emotional, maudlin or bathetic

• French: larmoyant (fr), tire-larmes (fr)
• German: schmalzig, rührselig (de), larmoyant (de)
• Greek: σαχλός (el) (sachlós)
• Russian: сентимента́льный (ru) (sentimentálʹnyj), слезли́вый (ru) (slezlívyj), слаща́вый (ru) (slaščávyj)
• Swedish: tårdrypande (sv), sliskig (sv)