an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
"banal or excessive sentimentalism," 1935, from Yiddish shmalts, lit. "melted fat," from M.H.G. smalz, from O.H.G., related to smelzan "to melt." Modern Ger. Schmaltz "fat, grease" has the same figurative meaning. First mentioned in Eng. as "a derogatory term used to describe straight jazz" ["Vanity
n. extreme sentimentality; corny sweetness. (From a Yiddish word meaning fat or oil.) : I didn't like that movie. Too much schmaltz.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
He set forth a world view with intellectual coherence and a minimum of schmaltz.
He could afford to go easy on the schmaltz, and the emotional content of the songs came through all the more clearly.
He is full of schmaltz and spouts the latest stencils of psychology while he takes dishonest advantage of a friend.