English Lexicon

Shmuck

/ʃmʌk/
nounverbCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #8500 frequency
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Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A foolish, obnoxious, or contemptible person.

    "I cannot believe I trusted that absolute shmuck with my money."
  2. 2

    A clumsy or hapless person; a jerk.

    "Stop acting like a shmuck and apologize to her."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Synonyms (3)
Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Borrowed into English in the late 19th or early 20th century from Yiddish 'shmok', meaning penis. Over time, the term underwent a semantic bleaching and generalization to refer pejoratively to an obnoxious, foolish, or contemptible person.

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