ersatz
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
See also Ersatz
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From the German Ersatz (“‘a replacement’”); and from the German verb ersetzen (“‘to replace’”).
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Adjective
ersatz (comparative more ersatz, superlative most ersatz)
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Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- Made in imitation; artificial, especially of an inferior quality.
- Back then, we could only get ersatz coffee.
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Quotations
- 1929, "Zeppelining," Time, 16 Sep.,
- Ersatzgas, Ersatzpfennige. Ersatz has become a brave word in Germany. As a substantive it means War Reparations. As part of compounded words it means substitute.
- 2001, The New Yorker, 15 Oct,
- The avant-garde's opposite number, in Greenberg's scheme, is kitsch, "ersatz culture"—art for capitalism's new man (who turns out to be no different from Fascism's or Communism's new man).
- 2003, The New Yorker, 17 & 24 Feb,
- The NATO visitors watched an ersatz eighteenth-century dance (complete with powdered wigs and simulated copulation) that might have been considered obscene had it not been so amusing.
- 2004, The New Yorker, 31 May,
- The crowd wandered out to a huge party on the ersatz city blocks of the Paramount lot.
[edit] Noun
ersatz (plural ersatzes or ersätzer)
- (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought): Something made in imitation; an effigy or substitute.
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Translations
something made in imitation
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[edit] References
- “ersatz” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
- "ersatz" in Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2007 Microsoft Corporation.
- "ersatz" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus © Wordsmyth 2002.
- "ersatz" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary © Cambridge University Press 2007.
- "ersatz" in Compact Oxford English Dictionary, © Oxford University Press, 2007.
[edit] French
[edit] Etymology
[edit] Noun
ersatz m. (plural ersatz)
